The Ranger's Daughter
by Kennie Barton
Summary: Ten years after Princess Maddie of Arulean opened the doors for girls to join the infamous Ranger Corps, a child is born to a young Ranger couple. But the life of the Rangers is never easy and the child is left orphaned in the Ward at Castle Redmont. When Choosing Day arrives Angie is brought into the world she was meant to live in by the legendary Will Treaty.
1. Prologue

The rain came down in sheets. The cool autumn sky was unrelenting in the dismal weather. A wind cut from the south, stirring what was left of the leaves clinging to the lower branches of the towering trees. Weighed down by the rain, they dropped into the road before the shaggy barrel chested pony.

The rider pulled his mottled cloak tighter around his neck and the small bundle he carried in his arm. He would have preferred it not to be raining. No one really enjoyed traveling in the rain, but given his task the rain was a complete nuisance.

A new wave of rain began, the baby shifted in her blankets. The rider bent over her, trying to further shield her from the weather. She sniffed and let out a small cry.

"Hush little one, we're almost there," he tried to sooth her, urging his horse on with a touch from his heel. The steady gait of the little pony quieted the child, smiling the rider pulled his cloak up over the baby.

He wished this was not necessary, taking the child to Redmont, leaving her to the Ward. He knew it was not a horrible fate, after all Will Treaty had been raised in the Ward and he was the greatest hero Araluen had seen since the infamous Halt. She would be fine, the Baron there would make sure she was taken care of. But it would still mark her as different.

She would have been different anyway, her parents being who they were; the life that could have been. This was better by comparison, it would be more normal. She would need normal and she would need stability. All children needed stability, and Rangers could never give that to a child.

This baby was a very unique child. She was the very first child born to two Rangers. Since they had allowed girls into the Corps many unions had formed, wild adventurous couples that could work in perfect harmony. In the past ten years, all the couples had opted not to have children knowing it would limit them in their responsibilities for months if not years. But not her parents, they had made the brave decision to have a child.

Sadly they had died in the line of duty, leaving the ten month old orphaned.

It was Will who had suggested the Ward at Castle Redmont. And Will would be around to look after her, should she need looking after. And everyone agreed she would, even the Ranger Commandant Gilan. She was a Ranger's child and that meant she would be no end of trouble.

It was still pouring rain when Castle Redmont came into view. The red walls gleamed dully through the rainy gray sunlight. The Ranger smiled seeing his destination.

"See, I told you we were almost there," he whispered softly to the baby girl.

She had fallen asleep to the rhythm of his horse's gait, one small hand tightly holding the hem of his mottled cloak. He smiled down at her, he had only had her for the day, while crossing through Redmont Fief, but he had grown attached. All the Rangers in the Corps had unknowingly adopted the little girl.

Will Treaty was waiting for them outside of Wensley Village, his cowl pulled low shadowing his face and protecting him from the rain. He was the one who was actually delivering Angie to the Ward. Gilan said it was because he intended to take the girl on as his apprentice when she was old enough, like Halt had done for him.

"How was the ride," Will asked as Angie was passed over to him. He took the child into his arms, appearing as confident and at ease as he had before.

"Despite the rain," Will laughed. "She doesn't much like the rain."

"I don't blame her," Will smiled down at the babe, tucking her beneath his cloak, "I'm not a fan of it either."

"Are you sure she'll be okay?"

"You do know I was raised in the Ward," Will raised his brow at the young Ranger. "As well as Sir Horace, the Oak Leaf Knight, Champion of the Araluen, and husband of Queen Cassandra."

"I know," the younger Ranger was too intelligent to take Will's harsh words to heart.

Will did not want to send the girl to the Ward either, but they all knew it was her best option. The Ranger's could not afford anyone to care for her full time, she would be passed around the Fiefs and shunned by other children her whole life. It was unfair to ask a family to take her in, even though Horace and Cassandra had offered on numerous occasions, she would be raised like the family who adopted her and know nothing of the Rangers except fear.

"I'll be looking after her, don't worry," Will smiled at the young man and clapped his shoulder. "It's for the best, we all agreed to that."

"Can we un-agree to it?"

It was a tired question. They had all debated the future of the baby, of their baby. She really was their child, a child of the whole Ranger Corps. They were all sad to see her go to the Ward at Redmont. Some were still against it. A Ranger's child should be brought up with the Ranger's all around them, trained in the Ranger ways their whole life.

"Take it up with Gilan," Will turned Tug with a gentle touch of the reins. "Until then I'll take Angie to Castle Redmont."

The young Ranger watched as Will Treaty rode away with the baby girl, his shoulders slumping under the rain sodden cloak. Parting really was the worst pain, and he had only spent a day with Angie.

Will held the sleeping child close to his chest as Tug walked down the high street of Wensley Village. Had Halt felt this knot is his stomach when he brought baby Will to the Ward? Had Halt debating just taking the sleeping child to his cabin to care for the child by himself? Had Halt wanted the very best, and decided the Ward was the right choice? He must have, and Halt had always watched after Will. Will would watch over Angie, always. It was the least he could do for the people who had left the precious child behind.

Inside the castle walls Will dismounted, holding Angie close to his chest and pulling his cloak in to shield her from the insistent rain. Tug looked down at the baby in his rider's arms with large curious eyes. He seemed sad to see the girl leave their care as well. "Don't worry Tug," Will patted the little horse between the eyes, "it's only for a little while."

Tug snorted and shook his head before nuzzling the baby one last time. The little gray pony had come to like the baby, she had been around long enough. Will smiled turning to enter the Castle where he would be meeting Baron Zander.

Zander had taken over leadership of Redmont Fief five years earlier, though he was not as involved as Arald had been in the affairs of the Kingdom, or his own Fief. The two were as different as day and night, but Zander had seen the merit in many of Arald's ideas, including the Ward for orphans. Since Araluean was at peace, the Ward was generally very empty, but it was still there for children who lost their parents in service to Queen Cassandra. If anyone deserved a place in the Ward it was Angie.

"Ranger Will," Zander greeted the Ranger with an open hand, "I see she's finally arrived."

Angie shifted in her sleep, taking hold of Will's silver oak leaf necklace. "Yes, she finally finished visiting all the Corps," Will held the child out to the Baron.

Zander reached out, taking the child carefully in his hands while Will pried his oak leaf free. They had agreed that Zander would take her into the Ward. If Will took her questions would be asked, and Angie would be outcast. It had to remain secret who her parents were, for her sake.

"Gilan sent something for her," Will pulled the chain from his pocket, it had been specially crafted for Angie, a symbol that her parents were Rangers. The charm on the necklace was twin oak leaves joined at the stem, forged from bronze like an apprentice's. Will draped the necklace over the child's head, placing the oak leaves in her small hand.

"Is there anything I should tell them, in the Ward?"

"Her name is Angie, her parents were heroes," Will answered, caressing the child's face for the last time. "Nothing else," just like me, he wanted to say.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do," Zander asked as Will turned away.

"It's for the best," Will answered. It was for the best, he had to keep reminding himself, or Angie would be outcast her whole life.


	2. Chapter 1

The necklace spun around slowly, wrapping around her finger and unwinding repeatedly. It was a habit developed over the years to aide in her thinking process, the action kept her focused, at least somewhat. In all honesty Angie was completely unfocused most days and scatter brained on the others. Except today, today she was completely focused on one thing and one thing only. Choosing Day was only a week away.

Choosing Day; in Angie's opinion the end of her life.

Choosing Day was supposed to be a big, grand occasion where the Ward children who had turned fifteen would be apprenticed to the Craft Masters of Castle Redmont. Or doomed to a life of menial labor, a fate Angie feared would be her own. It was not that she was unlikeable or incapable; she just apparently did not fit in with their departments.

What Angie had really been hoping for was an apprenticeship with Master Whey, the lead chief in the kitchens. But the kitchens were fully staffed and at the breaking point with students; there simply was not room for her. She liked cooking, especially after she had been forced to help the cooks for a Yule time feast as a punishment, five years in a row. She could really see herself doing that for the rest of her life.

The Couriers had turned her away, saying the just did not see her blending well, whatever that meant. She would have tried for an apprenticeship with the Scribes and Lawyers, but that was a tedious task that she had no patience for. All the other Masters worked in departments she was certain were boring and not worth her time, or something she simply could not do like coopering or the Battle School.

This ultimately led to her conclusion that she was going to suffer as a laborer in Wensley Village or some out laying farm, and become a farmer's wife with too many sons and thread bare clothing. It was not often that the children of the Ward were unable to be apprenticed to the Craft Masters of Redmont, but it did happen. And it was happening to her.

Angie sighed looking down as the twin oak leaves on her necklace came to rest on the back of her hand. She was meant for more than a farmer's wife, she could feel it. Her parents had sent her to Redmont for more. But what could she do, anything worthwhile had decidedly rejected her weeks ago. Her only hope was the Scribes, and that was not a life she wanted.

"I'm doomed," she sighed spinning the necklace out again.

The necklace was a mystery. One that for a long time was all Angie ever really thought about. The matrons looking after the children in the Ward said she had arrived one rainy day with the necklace clasped tightly in her hand and a message telling her name and that her parents were heroes. Who they were was never learned, and what the necklace meant was just as unclear. But one thing was clear to her; the daughter of heroes was not going to be a farmer's wife in thread bare clothing.

"Angie," one of the other Wards, a girl called Mandy came across the courtyard to where Angie was thinking. "Why didn't you come to lunch?"

Was it already lunch time, Angie straightened to watch Mandy's approach. At the mention of lunch Angie's stomach rumbled, something Mandy did not miss. The girl smiled tossing an apple to her friend.

"You're lucky I was able to slip these, you know how Whey is about food."

Mandy was tall and elegant, her parents had been Inn Keepers, but they had been killed in a Scotti raid when she was ten. Lady Helena had said that she would gladly take the inn keeper's daughter for apprenticeship in the Diplomatic Services. Once upon a time Angie believed she would be joining Mandy with to the Couriers, but a little over a month before Choosing Day, Lady Helena came to the girls telling Angie that she was not going to blend well in the Couriers.

Angie smiled in appreciation catching the apple, "Soon it won't matter."

A week, there was only a week until Choosing Day. Angie had to convince someone to apprentice her. She spun the necklace around her finger, rolling the apple against her leg with the other hand.

"Stop worrying so much, I'm sure you're needed somewhere. You're smart and really talented," Mandy was a very optimistic person, even beck when she first arrived at the Ward, but since her arrival everything seemed to have gone in Mandy's favor. Angie lacked that kind of luck.

"Oh, that's why everyone turned me out," Angie spun the necklace faster as she frowned at the ground between her feet.

"Surely not everyone," Mandy laid her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Everyone except the Scribes and Battle School," Angie sighed, catching the pendent on her necklace in her hand and hitting her knee slowly.

Mandy's nose wrinkled with her smile, "I hadn't realized that was on option."

"It's not," Angie was in no mood for jokes. Her future was closing in on her and it was dismal.

"I guess I could go to the Scribes," she said after a few minutes careful thought, spinning the necklace around her finger again.

"I thought you couldn't stand that stuffy Scribe Master, George," Mandy watched as Angie's necklace spun around between them.

Mandy had a point. Angie lacked the patience to read those ordnances and laws and countless documents the Scribes stooped over every day. She hated the constriction of sitting at a desk all day reading, and she especially could not stand to stuffy, know-it-all Scribe Master George Carter. But, all of that aside, Angie felt she could stomach the lifestyle, it would be better than a farmer's wife. And it was her only chance.

"He's my last chance," Angie whispered standing up. The Scribes were the only crafters left in all of Castle Redmont who had not already turned Angie aside.

"Maybe Lady Helena will change her mind," Angie laughed.

Lady Helena, the head of Diplomatic Services and the Couriers did not change her mind. The woman had been confronted dozens of times, and stayed by her original decision. She always won. Saying she would change her mind about accepting an "unfit match" of her department was like hoping for a miracle.

No, Angie's last hope was the lawyers, and book makers. It did not take a genius to figure it out. She slipped her necklace over her head and took a bite from the apple Mandy had brought for her. "I have to go," she called over her shoulder crossing the yard.

"Lady Helena still might change her mind," Mandy called after her friend.

Angie made no outward sign that she heard Mandy calling after her. She had more important things to worry about than false hopes. She had a week to convince the Scribes that she really wanted to do that for the rest of her life.

Angie crossed the yard quickly, by passing the Ward where the others in her age group were lounging by the door. They would rub it in Angie's face, the fact they had been accepted somewhere. Angie had been in the Ward her whole life, she had been four before Johnny Pritchard arrived. She and Johnny hated one another, and he had managed to turn each and every single new arrival against her. Well, until Mandy arrived when they were nine.

Angie had avoided the majority of the people that should have been her friends for hours to spare herself unfair ridicule over things she had no control over. And in light of the recent situation, and her inability to find a Craft Master to take her as an apprentice, Angie just outright avoided all of them. She had not been in the Ward building for nearly two weeks and had only been to two meals with the other Ward children in the same amount of time. It was a good thing she was adapt at sneaking into the kitchens, and that several of the cooks took pity on her.

Had they not looked up Angie would have made it into the castle. But luck was never on Angie's side. Johnny and his partner in crime Steven Cooper looked up just in time to see Angie climb the castle steps.

"Well, look who decided to grace us with her presence," Johnny came to his feet quickly, he was tall and very athletic with a wolfish face. Steven was on his feet seconds later, the two were so similar they should have been brothers. Thankfully they were not, Angie could not bear the thought of having to live with the both of them for eleven years.

"If it isn't the misfit of the Ward," Steven was not very original; his taunts were nine times out of ten, immensely idiotic. As dumb as they might have been his comments were still hurtful.

"I'm not a misfit," Angie seethed turning on them.

"Then why haven't you got any friends," Johnny loped across the yard, leading his pack to circle Angie on the stairs. "And that weirdo Mandy doesn't count."

"I have friends," Angie defended narrowing her gaze at Johnny.

For years Angie had been sneaking out of the castle, the people of Wensley Village were preferable to the bullies in the Ward. She knew plenty of children her own age in the Wensley and had been invited to hang out with them on several occasions. They were more like acquaintances that actual friends, but Johnny and his pack did not need to know that.

"Oh really," Johnny wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

No way out now, Angie told herself deepening her glare at Johnny. Johnny liked to hold her in the circle for the taunting, so the others could all get their barbed words in. The confrontations were rarely physical, Angie was thankful for that, but she always preferred it had an actual fight.

"Why haven't I seen them?"

"You're always alone or with the freaking Inn Keeper's daughter," Annette snickered. The girl was short and gaining weight at an uncanny rate, Angie was sure she snuck into the kitchens for snacks, and the bruises on her arms suggested Master Whey had laid into her with his wooden spoon on every occasion.

"Mandy's not weird or freaky," they could say all they wanted about her, but Angie would not allow them to insult Mandy.

"She must be," Kevin, the last of Johnny's pack spoke from behind her. The scrawny little son of a shepherd had come to the Ward when he was seven, and mainly just followed the group. He enjoyed fitting in so much he went along with whatever they were doing, even when he knew it was wrong and felt bad afterward. "She hangs out with you," not very original, yet still painful.

How she wished that this was a time when someone threw a punch at her. Angie could have fought them off, she had learned some pretty good moves from some of the boys in Wensley. She would never start the fight, but if just one of them looked like they were going to hit her, Angie would beat the snot out of all of them. Especially the snooty Annette with her little button nose.

"Let me go, I have places to be," it was a tired tactic, and its effectiveness was becoming little more than a pause in the verbal abuse.

"Always in such a hurry," Johnny smiled it what would have been a charming manner if Angie was an idiot like Annette. "Why not stay and chat?"

"I have somewhere to be," she spoke through gritted teeth. Johnny's grip tightened around her shoulders, he pulled her up against his side.

"I don't understand. No one wants you, where could you possibly have to go," he spoke with a soft voice. Angie bit her lip, fighting to keep the tears from pooling in her eyes.

That barb was the worst. No one wanted her. No one had ever wanted her. And Johnny took every opportunity to rub it in. They all knew what happened to their parents, they all had proud heritages to proclaim. Her parents, her whole family had sent her away. She attempted to pull away from him, but Johnny was stronger.

"Let me go Johnny," she tried to push at him away, her arms straining to form a gap. If she could just get her hands between them she could be free.

"No, I don't think so," Johnny said sweetly. His pack nodded in agreement.

"Why not just tell us where you have to be," Steven asked closing in on Angie's other side.

"Tell us," Annette chimed in.

"So we can tell them that you're no good."

They were all closing in on her, trapping her. Johnny and Steven both had their arms wrapped around her shoulders, Annette was smirking and she could feel Kevin breathing down her neck.

"Who could possible want anything to do with you?"

"Why don't you just run away, like you always do?"

"No one here wants you around."

"No one wants you."

Caught up in tormenting Angie none of the Wards of Redmont saw the Ranger enter. It would have been difficult even if they had been watching. He came in on foot with a caravan bring supplies in from Wensley. Will stopped as the caravan continued around the yard to where they would unload their goods, hearing the ward children nearby.

He was not pleased with what he saw. And he was enraged by what he could hear. The taunting, the harsh words, how could that have been missed? He had been there to check on the girl daily when he was not out on a mission; he had various servants and Craft Masters watching as well. No one had made any mention of Angie being bullied.

He crossed the yard as a shadow and loomed over the teenagers. "What do you think you are doing," he spoke in a harsh whisper, a sound he knew was more intimidating than anything else.

The two boys who had were holding Angie released her quickly, the circle spreading out to from a line. All five of the ward children looked up at Will with fear glazing their eyes. He narrowed his eyes at the two boys who had been entrapping Angie, a scowl pulled at his lips when her recognized Steven Cooper. His father had been a smith from the Ranger's, forging weapons for the Corps, before the forge had exploded killing the smith and his wife.

Will's anger rose, "well?" he asked when no one answered him.

"We were just talking, sir," Annette stuttered, all the children had seen him before, he could just appear like he had that day, he could do magic and kill people with a single look. And the ward children were all certain he was going to kill them with one of his magical looks.

"It looked like a lot more than just talking," Will took his voice even lower, turning on the girl who had spoken. "It looked an awful lot like bullying."

"Bullying," Johnny chirped in mock surprise. "We would never," Will's angered frown turned on Johnny, freezing the remainder of the comment in his throat.

"Yes, bullying," Will hated repeating himself. "All four of you." The four bullies gulped, shrinking down into themselves. "Now go, and if I hear that any of you have been acting up again," he lacked a proper threat, but he never really needed one for simple people. And that was exactly what these children where. When he left the sentence unfinished the four bullies nodded quickly and ran when he shooed them away.

Leaving Angie standing on the steps of the keep, Will turned to her fighting to keep his face neutral. Her fists were clenched tightly at her sides, a half eaten apple in the left, her face contorted between sorrow and anger.

"Are you alright," he tried to ask, but Angie stormed away.

"Leave me alone!"

Will sighed watching her disappear through the door, apparently his help was not needed. Remembering to when Horace had bullied him, Will realized he might have actually made Angie's situation worse. He shook his head turning from the door, he still had to go talk to George about Angie's future.


	3. Chapter 2

An entire week…  
Angie had wasted a whole week in that office reading over the most boring documents in existence. She had spent six whole days trying to prove that she really, really wanted to be a stuck up, know-it-all. She had wasted what precious time she had to find something she actually wanted to do, just to be shut down once again.  
Not even the Scribes, who were always complaining about being understaffed, wanted her. It was Choosing Day and she had failed to find a Craft Master who would accept her. Johnny and his little pack were right, no one wanted her.  
Maybe she could just run away. She had snuck out of Redmont dozens of times, she could do it again. She would be out of there and on to her new life before anyone important knew she had gone. But what life could she hope for? She had no money, no sellable skill, no craft; she was fifteen and had nothing to her name.  
She laughed at the expression; she did not even have a name. She was just Angie, the orphan with a bizarre necklace as the only clue to her parentage. What hope did she have out there? Less than there, and that was no comfort.  
Choosing Day, her nightmare was upon her, and she was thinking about running away. Pathetic, she told herself miserably sitting on her bed in the Ward. The others were still asleep. She could hear the steady breathing of the other girls while she watched the sky lighten in preparation for the sunrise through the window.  
It was the end of her life, her last day.  
"Might as well watch the sunrise from the wall," she mumbled quietly slipping out of her bed.  
The wall was the best place to watch the sunrise. Or the best place Angie was technically allowed to go. No, scratch that. The wall was the easiest place to hide and still see a wonderful sunrise. She could scale the wall in five minutes without a sound, under three with minimal noise and a minute flat if she absolutely had too; which happened frequently as Choosing Day had approached.  
She was up the wall and seated on the roof of the small shelter for the soldiers as the sun crested the horizon. How many more times would she be able to just sit and watch the sunrise; she wondered. After Choosing Day when she was sent to a life of menial labor would she still be able to just enjoy sunrise? Probably not, she would be up working this early for the rest of her life.  
This was a cruel irony, spending her last hours as a free person thinking about how horrible her life was about to become. She sighed drawing her knees up to her chest, her left hand reaching for the necklace; her only comfort.  
"I could still go," she whispered to the rising sun. "I could survive out there."  
_And find out what happened to my parents._  
It was not the first time she thought about that. Ever since Johnny arrived and their war began, Angie had thought about running away to find her parents. No one ever said they had died, they were just heroes.  
They could be alive out there, wondering about her. Maybe they did not know where she had gone. Perhaps she had been abducted as a baby and dropped at Redmont for safe keeping. Or maybe Angie's life would have been in danger if she had stayed with them and they sent her away for her own protection.  
That meant they might come back for her. And if they did come for her, it would be on Choosing Day. They could apprentice her so that no one would know the truth except them. And maybe they had talked to all the Craft Masters in Redmont so no one would apprentice her. That must be the reason, it made so much sense!  
Her parents were coming for her. Somehow they were going to claim her; but how? What could they possibly do that would warrant an apprentice? And how would they convince the Baron to let them take her away?  
None of that mattered, she would find out soon enough. The ceremony with the Baron was only a few hours away, her parents would be on their way to Redmont and soon she would see them. Choosing Day was not the end of her life, it was only the beginning.  
She was so elated by her discovery she forgot about the guard change, fresh eyes were more likely to spot her than the half-dozing night watch. And sitting up on the roof with the sun illuminating her was like shouting at them, "Hey, I'm right here!" And that's exactly what happened, the captain of the guard spotted her.  
"What are you doing up there," he called standing just close enough to see her fully and not shout. He was so accustomed to seeing Angie that he no longer asked who would be up there; he just wanted to know why?  
"Sorry, Thomas," she was so happy she could not even feign guilt for the guard captain. "I wanted to watch the sunrise."  
"And what if someone had seen you? What if they took you an enemy?" He shouted watching Angie scoot across the roof to the eave.  
"A scrawny little girl," Angie asked slipping down from the roof, she hung over the edge and allowed Thomas to help her to the walkway.  
"Yes, scrawny little girls," Thomas scolded taking her by the arm.  
Angie knew where this was going, no reprieve from Thomas. She was about to be marched up to the Baron's office. Again.  
It was not exactly incorrect to say that Angie was a trouble maker. And even then trouble maker was stretching the truth a bit. She was just perpetually caught doing some-what bothersome things that is some people's opinion was bad. Like sneaking roast chickens for the Yule feast from the kitchens, scaling the walls of the keep, adjusting documents in the library when the Scribes were proof reading, correcting maps for the cartographer when he missed a few minor details, or sneaking in Lady Helena's office to eavesdrop on important meetings. Sadly the list went on, and on, and on.  
At some point Thomas had made it his personal mission to catch Angie every time she thought about misbehaving. And he was excellent at it. Most of the time Thomas was on duty, Angie was in the Baron's office or performing her various punishments.  
"Come on, it's Choosing Day. I can't start the day off in trouble," she begged trying to pull her arm out of the sleeve of her tunic.  
"You should have thought about that before breaking the rules," he tightened his grip on her arm.  
Thomas was not a tyrant, he was generally a reasonable person, especially with the wards. And he had not missed the other wards picking on Angie daily. But there were still rules and Angie had broken them, he could not let that go unpunished. She had to learn.  
"Please Thomas. I was just watching the sunrise." She attempted to pry the captain's hand off her arm, her brow furrowing in concentration.  
"On the wall," he said it like that fully explained how grievously she had erred, it should have but Angie never seemed to catch on.  
"It's the best place to watch," she tried to explain giving up on freeing her arm. Being sent to the Baron's office for disciplinary action was not a good way to begin the day. Her parents might not take her if they knew she was a trouble maker. "Can't you let me go? Just this once?"  
Thomas might have Angie go, she was laying it on thick. And he knew it was Choosing Day, her chances of being apprenticed could be harmed is she was drug in the office for rule breaking. And Thomas wanted to see Angie apprenticed, she was a good kid. She deserved a break after suffering through her childhood with Johnny Pritchard. But he still had a firm grip on her arm when the Ranger came through the gate astride his little gray horse.  
Angie sighed seeing the horse enter the yard. The rider would see that she was in trouble for something, and he was chummy with the Baron. If Thomas released her the man in the mottled cloak would report to the Baron. Then Thomas would get in trouble for not reprimanding her.  
"Thomas," the man dismounted, leaving his horse alone in the yard. Angie did not know much about horses, but she was certain that was not the standard procedure. Watching the man cross the yard, she expected the horse to bolt, but it just stood there watching.  
"Ranger Will," Thomas turned to face the Ranger. "What brings you to Redmont so early?"  
"Business with the Baron," Ranger Will responded in a deep gruff tone, his dark eyes scanning Angie. "What's going on here?"  
"She was up on the wall," Thomas tightened his grip on her arm, anticipating a renewed attempt at escape.  
"I just wanted to watch the sunrise," she said quietly looking at the ground between her feet.  
"I was taking her to see the Baron," Thomas continued reluctantly. Had the Ranger not shown up he would have given Angie a break. But that was no longer an option.  
"Why don't I take her up to the Baron," Angie felt her stomach drop at the Ranger's suggestion. It really was the end of her life.  
"I would hate to inconvenience you Ranger," Thomas looked down at the child. Angie could see the worry in his eyes and the sorrow etched on his face.  
"No inconvenience at all," the Ranger took hold of Angie's other arm. "I have to go up there anyway." Reluctantly Thomas released her, giving her to the Ranger.  
His hand was like a vice. Angie squirmed trying to loosen his grip, it was hurting her. He either chose to ignore her squirming or he failed to realize he was cutting off the circulation in her arm. Angie had a sinking suspicion it was the later.  
"I use to climb the wall," the Ranger said once they had started climbing the stairs to the Baron's office.  
"For an invasion," Angie offered slowly, what other reason could there be for a Ranger to climb a castle wall?  
"Retreat," she could see a hint of a smile on his lips, it vanished almost instantly but she knew she saw it.  
"To the castle," she was nervous. Why was he telling her that he use to climb the wall at Redmont? Was it leading to a new horrible punishment devised by the Ranger? It must have been, the Ranger was weird and crazy and filled with sorcery.  
"From the keep," because that was not vague…  
Angie just barely repressed a sigh. The crazy sorcerer in the weird cloak was cryptic and taking her to the Baron's office. She was rethinking her earlier happiness, her life really was about to end, her parents would never take her back now.  
In the antechamber of the Baron's office the Ranger released her, pointed at a chair. That was obviously where she was supposed to await her doom. Slowly Angie sank into the chair and watched the Ranger. He entered the office without a word.  
For a moment, once the door clicked shut, she entertained the thought of running. The Ranger had left her alone, the annoying secretary Francis, who normally shouted at her constantly, was absent and the door of the office was closed. She had snuck up there before; she could slip out just as easily. She entertained the thought for a full minute, and then dismissed it.  
She was too afraid of the Ranger to even attempt to run. He would track her down, drag her back, and then she would really be in trouble. She might have been in trouble for climbing the wall, but that would be nothing compared to the trouble she would be in for running from a Ranger. In particular Ranger of Redmont Fief, the most grimfaced man Angie had ever encountered. No, running away from him was dumb.  
So she sat there.  
It felt like hours, it might have been hours. Or might have only been a few minutes, Angie was impatient and lost track of time when she had nothing to do. And sitting in the antechamber of the Baron's office was the embodiment of nothing to do. It had never taken so long to devise a punishment before.  
Her necklace was spinning slowly around her finger when the door of the antechamber finally opened. Only it was the door from the stairway, not the office. The other wards had arrived for Choosing Day. It had been hours, she had missed breakfast, her hair was a knot from where she had slept on it, and the Ranger was still in the office.  
Perfect.  
"Angie, what are you doing here," Mandy was the first through the door. "We've been looking everywhere for you."  
Angie opened her mouth to respond but as she did the door to the office opened. The Ranger came out, pulling the cowl of his cloak up over his face. The wards stopped, staring at the small intimidating man. Ranger Will crossed the room, cowing the ward children into vacating the doorway. The Ranger stopped in the doorway turning to face the children. His eyes stopped on Angie.  
He motioned with his finger, a simple movement that had only one meaning: Come. He was silently telling her to follow him, and the same fear that kept her in that chair in the antechamber compelled her to rise and follow him. At the door she heard words that at one point might have given her immense pleasure. Now it sounded like a death sentence.  
"You are now my apprentice."


	4. Chapter 3

Angie followed the Ranger down the stairs and out of the keep. He whistled to his horse, which was exactly where he had left it, and just kept walking. At the gate they were joined by the little horse which tagged along like a dog. The Ranger never turned to make sure she was following. He never turned to see if the horse was coming. He just walked…  
All the way down to his little cabin in the woods. Angie had been there before, she snuck out of the castle on a semi-regular basis and this was one her less frequented spots. She liked to try and figure out what it was that the Ranger did, but all she ever saw the Ranger doing was reading mail or playing a lute with a black dog lounging at his side.  
Not very exciting.  
Now her parents would never be able to save her, she was trapped with the weird Ranger. Could she decline his forced apprenticeship? Was that an option? Surely he would not keep her here if this was not what she wanted. Or not since this was obviously some form of punishment for all her wrong doings at the Redmont.  
He climbed the steps, patting the dog on the head. The horse stopped in the yard looking expectantly up at his owner. Angie was still standing in the yard, afraid to pass a dog that could attack her and scared of what would happen once she entered that cabin. Would climbing those steps be the same as accepting that she was the Ranger's apprentice?  
And why did the horse just stand there? It stood next to her with big brown eyes looking between her and the door. Was it expecting her to just climb those stairs?  
It's a horse, she scolded herself. Horses are not that intelligent.  
But he was still looking at her, and she knew it was with expectations.  
Angie could admit the fact that sometimes she let her imagination run wild, she could also own up to the fact that she sometimes personified things. But the horse was really expecting something to happen. And as if to prove the point, he pushed her toward the steps. It was a coincidence, she told herself.  
But the shaggy grey pony was insistent. When she still refused to climb the steps to the veranda the horse pushed her again. Then the dog became involved, it loped down the stair to her side and started pushing against her leg. Both of the animals, which Angie had never seen behaving in such a strange manner before, where trying to get her in that cabin. And Angie was just as determined not to go, if only to irritate the animals.  
"Enough," the Ranger finally intervened with a swift hand motion. The dog sat instantly, sweeping his tail over the grass and smacking the backs of Angie's feet as if still trying to get her to cross the yard and enter the cabin. The horse stopped butting her, but it was still entirely to close for Angie's liking. "You don't have to come in right away, but I thought you would like some lunch before we get started."  
As if on cue, Angie's stomach growled. She was hungry. But accepting the food would mean she approved of this whole situation. And Angie did not approve of any of this.  
"If I eat, do I have to be your apprentice?"  
"You don't have to be anything. I just thought you would like it," the Ranger said after a few minutes careful thought. Or perhaps he was just stalling, what if he was making her say these things, making the animals act strangely, he was a Ranger after all. And Ranger's had unnatural powers. "Not everyone is chosen to be Ranger."  
"Not everyone is chosen to be sent to the Ward either," she returned. "No one chooses that actually."  
"No," he spoke gently, as if he was blaming himself for her time in the Ward at Redmont. "But great people have come out of the Ward."  
"Like who," she was a bit more intrigued than she intended, and maybe let it show a bit too much. There was hardly anyone in the Ward, Angie's group had been the largest in over thirty years, and there were only six of them.  
"Well," he looked like he was actually thinking about who to tell her about. He stroked his beard, an action that made him seem almost normal. "George Carter grew up in the Ward."  
The stuffy, know-it-all Scribe Master came from the Ward. That was impossible, he was ancient. And he was too important to have been an orphan.  
"The King himself grew up in the Ward," the Ranger continued, nodding his head briefly.  
"You're lying," the words were out before she could stop them. Angie had never really developed a thinking process. If the idea came to mind she said it, and that had caused her a lot of trouble. Like it was now, the Ranger's brow knitted together as he looked down on her.  
"I would never lie about the Royal Family. King Horace grew up a Ward at Redmont," his tone changed so drastically, Angie was a little frightened. "I also grew up in the Ward, with Horace and George."  
The Ranger grew up in the Ward? Not only that but he grew up in the Ward with the King and the stuffy Scribe Master. Made up or not, that was a pretty good story. One worthy of Angie's imagination, but how could this Ranger honestly expect her to believe that the King of Araluen was raised an orphan at Redmont? Kings were not orphans; they were mighty heroes, knights who saved damsels and competed in tourneys.  
But, recalling what little history that had actually stuck with her, Angie could vaguely remember something about King Horace coming from Redmont Fief in the company of Rangers. And if she was actually recalling fact not her imaginative stories, he saved a lot of people in the company of the Rangers including Princess, now Queen, Cassandra. Angie was almost positive one of those Rangers had been called Will. And the grim faced Ranger before her was called Will. Maybe it was true.  
"Why would I want to be a Ranger," she opted not to contest the Ranger any more about the Wards of Redmont. If amazing people came from there, they did; far be it for her to say otherwise.  
"You want adventure don't you," the question took her by surprise.  
Angie had never told anyone about her dreams of adventure, of seeing new places, of performing great deeds. She had always held that close with the images she concocted of her heroic parents. How could this Ranger know that she dreamt of something more?  
"You feared today would come and you'd be sent to Wensley as some sort of serving girl," it was more statement than question, and it was too close to home to be a guess.  
"How did you," she spoke before she could stop it, a grim smile touched his features again with single brow rising. Angie could tell he was trying not to smile, but he was failing miserably. "Why me? Johnny would have made a much better Ranger."  
"You didn't leave," he said simply.  
More riddles, Angie repressed a sigh. Would she ever receive answers straightly? Or would the rest of her life be spoken with a code she would never be able to decipher?  
"I don't understand."  
"The office, this morning. You didn't run off when I left you there," his tone was similar to the one that Thomas used when he was repeating things to Angie. She wrinkled the nose at the similarity.  
Did he know she had thought about running away? Had he been watching, obviously; he had probably expected her to run for it so he could chase her down and curse her with his black magic. But she had stayed, and mentally she scolded herself. That was what had landed her here; too many lectures from Thomas about rules and responsibilities and a fear of the man in the dappled cloak.  
"You would have come after me," she said weakly, beginning to doubt if he would have come after her.  
"Yes, I would have. I would have taken you back to the Ward for Choosing Day and you probably would have been apprenticed to the Diplomatic Services." Angie felt her jaw go slack. "You would have been great as a Courier, but Lady Helena, the Baron and I all agree, you'll make a better Ranger."  
She could be a Courier. She could walk back up to the Castle and tell Lady Helena that the life of the Ranger was not for her. She could spend the rest of her life exactly like she had planned with Mandy. She looked over her shoulder to the trees. Was it a choice or a ruse?  
"So if I say no to this," she turned back to the Ranger and motioned to the cabin and animals with a wave of her hand, "and go back to the Castle, Lady Helena would apprentice me?"  
"Probably not," he stroked his salt and pepper beard again. "She was very adamant that you become a Ranger. She said she'd not seen someone so inclined for mischief since I was a boy."  
Lady Helena had been in the Castle when the Ranger was a Ward, if he was actually a Ward? That made her older than the wrinkly Scribe Master! "What does that mean," she decided to ask questions that seemed less rude.  
"Nothing," there was a glint in the Ranger's eye. It was like he knew she was hooked on this conversation. "It's just that you have a tendency to sneak around."  
"A talent you admire," she dared to hope. Perhaps she could do this Ranger thing. It seemed she already had skills they were after.  
"With training yes, sneaking is a Ranger's specialty."

According to the grim faced man sneaking was a good talent to have. Angie agreed, she liked being able to eavesdrop on people, and she like having the upper hand on Johnny whenever possible. The actions of the Ranger, or an apprentice Ranger, were not what Angie had expected. They started with chores.  
"It seems I forgot to fetch the water this morning," he said as soon as Angie had entered the little cabin. He had a look of shame on his face, but Angie could tell he was faking it. She was a master at feigning looks after all. The Ranger had purposefully not fetched the water so she would have too. "Why don't you take those buckets and fill the barrel while I start on lunch."  
How he intended to start lunch without any water was beyond Angie, but she had the feeling pointing it out would only land her in trouble. So Angie took up the two wooden buckets and started out the door.  
When she finally filled the water barrel on the edge of the veranda the air around the cabin smelled wonderful. The horse was no longer in the yard, and Angie could not see him in the paddock behind the cabin. He must have wondered off, she thought was satisfaction. It served the Ranger right after tormenting her all morning.  
When she entered the cabin again two places were set at the simple table with two mugs. Angie frowned at the mugs? What was she expected to do, drink sludge water? That was not happening.  
After she washed up they sat down to eat. The smell was nothing compared to the taste, this Ranger could really fix a mean meal, it might have been better than the Yule feasts at the castle. Angie felt like she inhaled her share of the meal and spent the rest of it eyeing the Ranger's plate expectantly.  
"So, you're horse," she finally decided to breach the missing horse subject once the Ranger finished eating.  
"What about him," the Ranger held in mug in both hands, breathing in the aroma wafting from the brown liquid.  
"He's not out there," she was watching him cautiously, half expecting him to start shouting and ordering Angie up to go and locate him. But the Ranger's face did not change. He even took a long drink from his mug and smacked his lips in satisfaction.  
"No, I don't suppose he would be," Will set his coffee mug down looking around the little cabin. "I imagine he went to visit Young Bob."  
More riddles, Angie chewed on her lip. So the horse was just wandering around fully tacked, that seemed like a far cry from normal. "Shouldn't you go, I don't know, look for him?"  
"I'm sure he's fine," Will smiled spotting something that required Angie's attention. "But those pots back there," he shook his head making a clicking sound with his tongue, "They could use some looking after."  
Angie turned to see what pots Will was talking about. Piled by a small sink were the beginnings of a decent mound of filthy dishes. And "looking after" would translate into scrubbing, Angie's stomach dropped. Menial labor, just like she feared.  
Only this was worse, she had a crazy Ranger watching her every move.  
After scrubbing the pots, Angie dusted the rugs from all three rooms in the cabin. Then Will claimed that there were too many ashes in the hearth and his fire had no hopes of survival which was a problem that only Angie could rectify. After that there were ashes all over the floor, and that simply would not do. She swept the whole cabin and dusted one of the rugs again. After that Will discovered a shortage of fire wood, at least with that chore he offered some help, Angie had been unable to swing the axe to cut the wood.  
At sunset, when Will finally felt she had cleaned everything that could be cleaned in the cabin he allowed her to sit at the table while he prepared the evening meal. Angie was exhausted, as soon as she sat down her head hit the table and she was fast asleep.


	5. Chapter 4

She woke to the sound of frying bacon. That could not be right, the kitchen was nowhere near the Ward, there was no possible way she could be in her bed and hear the frying bacon. She must be dreaming, she decided pulling the blanket tightly under her chin and turned on her side. It was a pleasant dream, much better than the nightmare before it. Bacon was the best food around, she should always dream about bacon; not that dream about being apprenticed to a Ranger.  
Angie's eyes snapped open so quickly it took a few seconds for her brain to recognize she should be able to see. And when she did see her surrounds Angie really wanted to go back to pretending she was dreaming. Why did it have to be true? Apprenticed to a Ranger, just when she thought her parents were going to come and save her.  
It was not that the little room was horrible, by all accounts the private area was the best thing Angie could ever consider her room. But it belonged to a Ranger, one those black magicians that could appear anywhere. She would spend the rest of her life with the grimfaced bearded man in exchange for a private room.  
Angie pressed the heels of her hands over her eyes. She lay there for several minutes, waiting to see if the Ranger was coming to wake her anytime soon. When he did not come, Angie opened her eyes to look around the room. It was small, sparsely furnished and very tidy with a small vase of day old wild flowers on the bureau in front of the tiny window. That was a nice touch, she thought sitting up in her bed.  
She was still fully dressed. The only thing missing were her boots, which she found in the wardrobe with the rest of her belongs from up in the Ward. Someone must have brought it during the night. She pulled on her boots hopping around on one foot and falling back on the bed as she pushed her heel into place. When both boots were on she looked in the small mirror running her fingers through her hair to make it half way presentable. Then she opened the door.  
He was frying bacon, that much she knew before hand since the sound of the sizzling meat had woken her. He was also frying eggs, the aroma flooded her senses, and the old man was whistling. Angie grinned pulling her door mostly closed, the sound of the latch would be unavoidable and it was clear he was unaware that she was up since he was whistling. Something told her, a Ranger would not whistle in the presence of his apprentice.  
She began crossing the room on her toes, even the soft soles of the boots would make noise on the wooden panels and she would have to be silent to get past the Ranger. She was half way across the room when his tune lagged for the briefest of moments. Angie froze looking over at him, her breath catching in her throat. When the tune regained tempo, Angie continued on. Her hand was on the latch, she was moments away from escape when Will spoke.  
"Ah good, going to fetch the water. And here I'd thought I would have to throw a bucket over your head to get you up." He said it pleasantly, like he was telling a wonderful joke.  
He had scared Angie half to death. She had been certain she had not made a sound crossing that room. How could he have known she was there?  
Sorcery, she told herself, that was obviously it.  
"Better hurry or breakfast will be cold before you get to eat," he glanced back at her over his shoulder. She cast him a mutinous glare before throwing the door open and leaving, stomping across the veranda. Will smiled turning back to his cooking. It was such fun to mess with apprentices.  
Breakfast was cold when Angie finished bringing in the water. Will had already eaten and was sipping coffee while going through a pile of letters. She glared at him sitting at the table.  
Will chose not to acknowledge her glare. He continued to read through his mail, finishing one and setting it aside for the next. He sipped at his coffee while reading, his eyes briefly catching glimpses of the girl. She was just sitting there glaring at him, her plate untouched.  
"You had better eat, busy day," he commented idly draining the last of his coffee and standing to refill his cup.  
Determining it was not worth it to skip a meal before more of the household chores Angie knew was coming, she ate the cold meal. Even cold it tasted fantastic, this Ranger could really cook. Angie had once fancied herself a decent cook, she had been punished in the kitchens enough over the years, but not even Master Whey's food could compare to the Ranger's culinary masterpiece.  
"I'm glad you like it," Will commented sitting across from her, fresh coffee in hand. "Tomorrow you'll get a try at it."  
"I know how to cook," she said around her scrambled eggs. "I had punishments in the kitchens."  
"It serves you right, stealing Yule Tide chickens," Will muttered behind his mail.  
"How did you," she stopped her question half finished. Soon she would learn all those magic tricks and she would know how.  
"You should know right now Angie; there is not much that happens in Redmont Fief that I do not know about." He said setting his cup down.  
"Oh really," she attempted to copy the raised brow the Ranger had given her the day before. Now he was claiming to be all knowing. Would he ever stop?  
"I know you snuck out of the castle ward and went down to Wensley to see the cooper's son. I know the butcher's son taught you to fight when you told them about being bullied in the ward. And before she left a few years ago, the previous owner of the dining hall taught you a bit about cooking. You attempted to spy on me during some of these little excursions," he raised his brow at her as her face dropped.  
"You will not be sneaking out of this cabin. You will not spend your free time in Wensley allowing the local children to talk you into doing something stupid." Angie sank low in her seat, he was all knowing, "And you will not spy on anyone unless I say so."  
Angie lowered her head, setting her fork down on the table. This Ranger was impressive, she had been certain that no one had seen her doing any of that, including the late night excursions to Wensley. And anytime she saw the Ranger he had been reading, he had never even acknowledged that she was there. It was good manners to acknowledge a visitor. But the reverse was the same, good mannered people did not spy on others.  
"Yes sir," she whispered quietly.  
"Good," Will nodded. "Also, don't call me sir. It's Will," the old Ranger smiled at Angie.  
After the meal Will set Angie to work again. They already had water but somehow the floor had obtained and unsuitable amount of dust since Angie last swept. Coincidently the hearth was once again filled with ashes that threatened to smother the fire. But Angie caught on to that before sweeping, so she only had to perform that task once. The pots she had scrubbed the night before where no longer glistening, Will claimed that was unacceptable and had Angie clean them again.  
More fire wood needed to be cut as well. The task took longer than it should have. Will only cut around a fourth of the fire wood; then sat on the veranda in a canvas chair reading his mail while Angie struggled to cut the rest. When the job was finally complete Angie's arms were so sore she doubted she would ever be able to move them again.  
She soon found out she could which was not necessarily a good thing.

It was mid morning when Will led Angie out to the middle of the clearing before the cabin. He had a roll of tanned leather under his arm and the most unreadable expression Angie had ever seen on his face. The dog loped after then and settled peacefully at Will's side when he sat on the ground.  
Angie sat across from him as Will unrolled his burden, wondering what was about to happen. Her eyes lit up seeing the contents of the roll: Weapons. She was going to receive an education in weaponry, now Johnny would never be able to pick on her again.  
"These are the tools of our trade," Will started, picking up the saxe knife. "First off, this is your saxe." He held the hilt out to the young apprentice, watching her expression carefully.  
She had been bullied, he knew that now. And he also knew bulling victims tended to be aggressive afterwards. If Angie turned out to be overly aggressive he would have to break that tendency or she could not be a trained as a Ranger.  
Thankfully she held no mischievous gleam in her eye; she looked pleased to have the chance to learn these skills and Will felt it would be defensive only. He hoped he was right, if it later showed otherwise Angie was be a very dangerous adversary he would have to deal with.  
Angie held the saxe carefully in her hand, it was heavier than she expected, and her arms burned with tension as she held it upright. She stared at the reflection in the blade, her clear blue eyes staring back at her. It was her saxe, her very own knife. She realized she had been holding her breath and let it out in a small sigh.  
"The saxe has many uses," Will was still watching, waiting. "It is very strong. Our smithies learned from the blacksmiths in Nihon-Ja, they are the hardest blades in all of Araluen. You could clash blades with most any knight in the kingdom and when you're finished the knight would have a lot of work to do to remove all the nicks."  
"Most any knight," Angie allowed the saxe to sink to her knees, her mind running. Which knight would have that kind of weapon? And how did they get it? She had not heard any stories of people from the far away island kingdom becoming a knight, and they had their own weird title. And they did not come to Araluen.  
"Yes, most of them," Will nodded, panic gripping his throat for a moment. "King Horace is the only knight whose sword is contestable to our knives."  
Angie's eyes narrowed looking down at the saxe in her hand. She could briefly recall from her history classes about a treaty forged between Araluen and Nihon-Ja in which a knight had sailed off for the island country. It made since that it would be the future king.  
"He got it because he's the king," she ventured looking up at the Ranger. "Naturally the king has the best sword in all the kingdom."  
"It was a gift from a friend," Will responded. Angie nodded as if she had been expecting that answer. "You're going to learn to throw the saxe, as well as this," Will held up the small throwing knife that would accompany the saxe in the specially made double scabbard. "They're balanced for throwing."  
Angie accepted the small throwing in her right hand. "If I throw them how am I suppose to defend myself?"  
"Throwing the saxe is a last resort," Will was pleased she had phrased her question like that, but fear was still holding him. "You will have two long range weapons."  
Will picked up the sling, it was the newest of the Ranger weapons and only the girls used them on a regular basis. The boys learned, but they were stronger and tended to favor the bow, the girls tended to favor the sling. That was just the way things were.  
Angie sat the saxe and throwing knife back on the leather roll to accept the sling from Will. It was a simple weapon, Angie had seen kids playing with them in Wensley, and some of the children of the castle staff had them too. It was a Ranger's weapon?  
"I'm not the best at it, but you'll be fine once we get the basics covered," Will offered a smile. His first apprentice Maddie, crown Princess Araluen, had taught him to use the sling. Will could use the weapon, but his accuracy was not commendable for Ranger standards. Will was skilled with a bow, so he felt it all balanced out.  
"Next we have our primary weapon, the bow," Will held up the recurve bow he had constructed for Angie. She looked at the weapon in awe, Will fought to suppress his smile, he had allowed it to slip when he had showed the weapon to Maddie.  
Angie took the bow in her hands, running her hands down the length of the bow. It was unstrung, but she knew what it would mean to have the weapon. This was better than the saxe or even the sling. All the Ranger's had bows, she had seen her fair share pass through Castle Redmont to see the baron or that old Ranger who once lived in the castle. It was like a symbol that she belonged somewhere.  
"Can I string it," she asked, still running her hand long the wood.  
Will showed her how to string the bow and how to unstring it, telling her how important it was to unstring the weapon if she was not using it. Then he let her try it. Angie had a lot of trouble, her arms refused to move properly and her arm strength was at zero after chopping firewood, but she finally did it.  
Will held up an arrow, keeping his face in check. Angie took the arrow in her left hand and stood up looking at a target she had seen Will setting up just before he showed her the weapons. She looked at him for conformation, when he nodded she nocked the arrow turning to face the target. With a very deep breath Angie brought the bow up as she drew the arrow back.  
She forced herself to bring the arrow back full draw, her arms started shaking at mid draw but she was determined. She had heard the baron's daughter Suzanna talk about archery with her friends, Angie knew the full draw was when her forefinger touched the corner of her mouth. The second her finger reached her lips, her fingers felt like they were about to snap off at the tips and Angie released the string.  
The arrow arched off, flying at high velocity toward the target. Surprisingly it actually hit the target, not the bull's-eye or even close to it but it was still on the target. Grinning stupidly she turned to look at Will, who looked immensely disappointed.


	6. Chapter 5

"Did I do something wrong," she asked looking back to the arrow. She had thought she had done fairly well for her first attempt at archery.  
"No," Will grumbled picking up the bracer he had brought out for her. "Here, this goes on your bow arm." Angie took the bracer and looked it over, realizing why the Ranger seemed so disappointed.  
"You thought I'd get hurt," she realized in distress. She had thought that the Ranger cared at least a little bit about her. He had chosen her to be his apprentice. But he was knowingly going to let her injure herself. "You were going to let that slap my arm."  
"Well it didn't," Will took the bow from her hand and helped fasten the bracer on her left arm, then slipped the tab over the first three fingers of her right hand. He told her to shoot again.  
She looked down at the tab and bracer, she had fired with the bow in her right hand, the hand that now had the miniature glove over her fingers. She was unsure about this, she shifted the bow to her left hand, if felt very awkward. Will handed her another arrow and she nocked. No amount of determination was bringing the bow to full draw. Everything felt wrong about the second attempt.  
"I can't," she complained lowering the bow. "It feels wrong."  
"You just fired," Will stood, his left brow arching.  
"But I shot the other way," she looked at the bow in her left hand. "I drew with the left, not the right."  
Will frowned looking at her. She had fired with the left but Will had thought that was because she held the bow more comfortably in the right hand. Everyone he knew drew with the right hand. That was just the way things were done. Could it be she was one of those rare people who were left handed?  
"Just try it," Will gave her an encouraging smile, motioning for her to proceed. Angie looked down at the bow in her hands for a minute and twisted her mouth around. Will was watching her, she could at least try.  
Angie took a very deep breath and started to draw back as she raised the bow. Her arms burned as the bow came to a half draw, but Angie did not give up, she pushed through the pain and brought her finger to her lip. As soon as she felt her nail touch her face Angie released the arrow. It went wide.  
Very wide.  
Angie looked abashed as her second attempt pierced the ground ten meters to the right of the target. She had thought she had a knack for this archery thing until that happened. And Will had said the bow was a Ranger's primary weapon, if she was terrible at it would he send her away? What kind of Ranger could she possibly be if she was terrible with a bow?  
She had expected him to yell. Maybe not yell, but she had not expected what happened. He nodded stroking his beard, like he was thinking. What was so intriguing about her miserable failure?  
"Switch back," Will held out his hand out for the bow.  
Angie gave him the bow slowly, wondering what the old man was getting at and pulled the tab off her fingers. Once the bracer had been switched, since the tab did not fit her left hand so she did not wear it, Angie took the bow back and nocked the arrow. She forced herself to pull the bow to full draw.  
"Use the muscles in your back, not your arms," Will coached.  
Focusing on her back muscles Angie pulled a full draw. The lack of protection on her fingers made it impossible to hold the string. As soon as her finger touched her lip the bow string slipped from her fingers, the string snapping without hitting her arm. Will stepped back when she released the string. Angie watched the path of the arrow as it landed on the opposite side of the bull's-eye.  
Will nodded approvingly. Angie had a natural ability at archery and sneaking around, skills her parents had excelled at, she could easily be trained in the other skills of the Ranger. She was also left handed. Will had never thought about it before, but it would be a challenge to teach someone who was left handed. Everything would be reversed from how he did things. It would be a challenge, but he felt confident in his ability to teach her. And it would give her an upper hand in close combat, something she would need.  
"Tell me, do you write with your left hand?"  
"The teachers made me use the right, but it was always uncomfortable. I only used the other one when they weren't looking." She looked up at him expecting him to be angry.  
All the teachers had become irritated when they caught her using the left hand. She determined that there was something wrong with her; it was added to a long list of things wrong with her. So she just made herself use the right hand. Now Will knew about it…  
"You're not mad, are you?"  
"Why would I be mad," Will smiled.  
Angie was still uncertain. This was a Ranger, they were weird. Maybe his smiles where hiding distaste. Admittedly it was a nicer face than the one's the teachers at the castle gave her, but distaste was still distaste.  
"They said it made me a devil child," she looked down at the ground. "They made me use the right, everything felt backwards."  
"You're just left handed," Will responded.  
"Johnny said that I was a freak because of it. He used to call me the devil child until I knocked him out with it," Angie held her left hand up in a fist. She smiled remembering Johnny hit the ground in the yard after their first physical confrontation. "He stopped after that," she looked up at Will biting her lip.  
"You pick fights," he frowned.  
"No," she said quickly. "I don't, it was self defense. Johnny was making fun and was trying to dunk me in the water trough in the stables."  
What would the Ranger know about this? He was cool and she was just Angie, the easily distracted, left handed freak who grew up in the ward. Sure he said he came from the ward too, but he had not suffered at the hands of Johnny and his wolf pack. There was no way he had been picked on while growing up.  
"I don't like fighting," she finished quietly dropping her head once more.  
"You know," his tone was gentle. Angie looked up to see he had bent down to look her face to face. "I don't enjoy fighting either," he smiled and Angie felt it was genuine. "Rangers always try to avoid a confrontation. We prefer to think our way out of problems."  
"Then why do you have so many weapons?" she looked down at the weaponry Will still had to show her.  
"What we do is dangerous," he rested his hand on the hilt of his own saxe at his waist. "We have to defend ourselves. All these are just tools Angie, we have them for when they are necessary."  
"But," she stopped herself.  
If Rangers were thinkers, Angie was not so sure she belonged there. Her capacity for thinking was limited to her interest. Sadly most things did not hold her interest for more than a few minutes. If using the wrong hand did not result in being dismissed by the Ranger, her inaptitude for thinking would.  
"But," he prompted. He had been expecting an overflow of questions. He had been expecting it since Angie first arrived at the cabin. To be honest he was a little disappointed that she was so reserved. Rangers were inquisitive, always needing more information.  
"I'm not exactly the best at that," she said slowly, trying to piece the sentence in a way that would not fully anger the Ranger. She did not anger him, she merely confused him.  
"Best at what," Will shook his head trying to determine what he had said that lead to this branch of the conversation. No apprentices were very skilled in anything when they first begin training. Surely Angie would realize that.  
"Thinking," she said slowly, her brows rose toward her hair line as her face twisted around the word. Until that point, Will had not believed it was possible to take so long for two syllables.  
Will's brow dropped, his forehead furrowing. How could someone not be the best at thinking? Thinking was a constant process, it was impossible to not think. As he debated all of that he realized that he was making a face, one that had Angie retreating slightly.  
Angie knew it was a mistake to say that she was not a thinker. Will was going to get rid of her now, just when she had come to accept that she might have enjoyed being a Ranger. Now it was off to Wensley to work at the Inn as a serving girl.  
He laughed. Will actually laughed at her. She was distraught over her future and he was laughing at her.  
"This isn't funny," she felt like everything was ending, she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. "You can send me away if you want, but this is nothing worth laughing over!"  
"I'm not going to send you away," Will laughed.  
"You're not?"  
"Of course not," he lay his hand on the young apprentice's shoulder, smiling at her. "I chose you as my apprentice because you have potential."  
"But," Angie sighed reaching up to hold the amulet on her necklace, looking for some solace in the one thing in her life that remained the same. "How can I do all that stuff you talked about, all that dangerous stuff, if I can't think my way out of it?"  
"You'd be surprised what you can do when the time comes," Angie could not help but feel like the Ranger was wrong. She knew how little her mind actually worked, she had been living with it her whole life. But if the Ranger was confident that she could do this, easily distracted and all, she would at least try it.  
"Now come on, I'll teach you how to use that sling."  
Will had thought he Angie was exaggerating when she said she was not much on thinking, and he was right. She was an excellent thinker. Angie's problem was hidden behind a short attention span. Will recognized the signs almost immediately; she asked all the right questions, brought up flaws in technique and even asked why she was being taught to use a sling if Will did not use one. After she reached the day's goal, five bull's-eyes in a row Angie grew agitated that she had to repeat the sequence.  
And it only got worse from there.  
After setting Angie up with an archery range, telling her to practice, he went in to begin preparing their lunch. An hour later he returned to find a dozen arrows stuck to the target, her recurve bow unstrung, with the string looped neatly beside it, on the cloak he had given her that morning. Angie was nowhere to be seen.  
Will sighed looking around for his dog, Teki, only to discover that the animal had followed Angie. He grumbled quietly to himself pinching the bridge of his nose and set off in search of his missing apprentice. She had only been alone for an hour, how far could she have possibly gone?  
She was very skilled at vanishing, especially for someone who had never learned the art of tracking or unseen movement. It took several minutes for Will to find where Angie left the clearing, even then it was as if a Ranger had passed through trying not to be discovered. His first real sign of their passing was the black dog hair caught on a bush.  
He found her by the banks of the Tarbus, staring down at the slow moving water. Teki was stretched out beneath a large oak tree watching her with tried drooping eyes. Will sighed stepping out from the trees, ready to yell at Angie, but something stopped him.  
She had pulled her necklace off. Will had noticed that she still sought comfort in the cool metal, just like she had as a baby. He was glad she had kept the necklace. The chain hung from her hand, the twin leaves held tightly in her grip.  
"I know you gave me this for a reason," she looked from the river to the red walls of Redmont. "And I know you're out there, so if you could just," she looked down at the amulet in her hand, opening her fingers to look at the charm. "Just tell me how to do this. I can't take the rejection, not again."


	7. Chapter 6

"Today we are going to work on the art of unseen movement," Will had led her a fair distance from the clearing hoping to keep her attention.  
"The what," Angie asked looking up at Will with her brow furrowed.  
"The art of unseen movement," Will repeated slowly waiting for the next phase of this game Angie was playing.  
He was uncertain if she was actually confused by everything, or if she just enjoyed making Will repeat everything. Sometimes it seemed like the later, but anytime Will did not repeat himself Angie had no idea what they were doing, or why. So he just repeated anything Angie asked about.  
"So, we're learning about art? I guess I'm good at that," she shrugged dropping to sit on the ground. She crossed her legs and looked up at him expectantly. "I can draw maps, does that count?"  
"No," he decided they would work out mapping later. "We're not talking about art."  
"But you said the art of something," she pointed out quickly.  
"Yes, the art of unseen movement."  
"So we're not drawing," she asked.  
"No," Will let out a long slow breath. Even if she did not mean it, Angie's constant off-topic questions were infuriating. "It is part of that sneaking thing we talked about before."  
"I'm good at sneaking," she perked up with a smile.  
"I know," Will said dryly.  
She was at good at sneaking, in the month that she had been with Will, Angie had attempted to sneak out at least twice a week. It was time to put all of that energy to some sort of use, since chores, practicing her archery and with the sling, and throwing her knives were not exhausting her enough. Teaching her unseen movement would mean more work for Will, but it was a skill that needed to be refined.  
"What we're going to do is learn when to stay still and when to move. And how," he said slowly then looked at her expectantly, waiting on the follow up question.  
"If it's movement, why are we staying still," she asked almost hesitantly.  
"That's the unseen part of it," Will smiled, she was asking the right questions, now they could begin.  
Angie bit her lip looking up at Will. This sounded like something he was just making up again. She knew Will did not make everything up, but all this stuff seemed like the tasks sorcery would make irrelevant. What she really wanted to learn was the sorcery.  
"So it's like how you just appear places?"  
"I don't just appear places," he forced a laugh down. It reminded Will of the long ago time when Halt was teaching him these skills.  
"Yes you do, I've seen it."  
Will opened his mouth about to respond, but Angie kept talking.  
"One minute you're standing at the edge of the clearing, you vanish and then you're ten meters away and up a tree," she exclaimed quickly. "And Teki does it too!"  
Will's brow rose as he looked down at Angie, "Teki too? You've seen the dog climbing a tree?"  
"Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it's not true," Angie crossed her arms defiantly. "He climbs trees with me all the time."  
"When do you have the time to climb trees?"  
Angie realized her mistake too late. She had let it out that she had a lot of free time, and that was a large stretch of the imagination. What really happened when she had her "free time" was that she got bored with her current task and wandered off. Yes, Will knew about it, but she knew better than to admit to it.  
"Well, you know, from time to time," she bit her lip trying to think her way out of this situation. Nothing was coming to her. "We like to go on little adventures, so I can practice."  
She could tell by his rising brow that Will was not buying her excuses. The higher his left brow rose, the smaller she wished she could be, and the more she wished she already knew this unseen movement thing so she could escape that expression. She gave him a forced, cheesy grin, hoping to at least make the brow return to its normal place.  
"I'm sorry," she sighed. "I'll be better, I promise." She looked at the ground, hiding her face with her long curly hair.  
"See that you are," Will straightened himself, moving away from the side conversation and starting again with the reason for their trip. "We are going to be working on unseen movement."  
"You said that," she brushed part of her hair aside to look up at Will with one eye.  
"Why do you think we learn when to stay still?"  
"So we look like statues," Angie tossed her hair over her shoulder and struck a pose with her arms stuck out at odd angles. Will could not suppress his smile.  
"No," he forced his smile away and gazed down at her expectantly, waiting for her to try a more reasonable answer.  
"Then I don't know," she lowered her arms slowly.  
"Think about it. Why would we want to stay perfectly still," Will prompted.  
Angie's face twisted in concentration, she scratched her temple and muttered to herself, "perfectly still?" Finally she shook her head and shrugged looking up at him. "No idea."  
"Think harder," he tried again.  
Angie was bright, she just needed a push in the right direction and a lot of prompting. Will was slowly learning how to teach Angie and how to get her to focus. Whatever they were doing, it had to hold her interest, the best way to do that was to constantly interact with her.  
"So, we look," she started again, her arms rising to their awkward positions once again.  
"No," Will cut her off before she could reach her statute pose. "Why would someone sneaking around want to know when to stop moving and stay perfectly still?"  
"Cause they got caught," Angie instantly responded, making Will wonder if she was just drawing this out for fun.  
"Close, it's to avoid being seen."  
"But if we just stand there, they'll see us," she shook her head, "Unless blind people are looking for us. And then it wouldn't matter as long as we're quiet."  
"You would be surprised," Will smiled, shrugging his cloak around to cover his chest. "Have you ever considered why our cloaks are mottled like this?" Angie quickly shook her head. "It's because it helps break up our shape."  
Will stepped back from Angie and stopped between two trees, standing perfectly still with his cowl pulled low over his face. Angie squinted looking at him. She knew exactly where he was but with the cowl pulled over his face and the cloak wrapped around him, Angie was having a hard time distinguished where her mentor was actually standing.  
"That's amazing," she whispered looking down at her own cloak, sprawled out around her. She had never even thought about the oddity of the cloak's pattern, she just thought it was something to set the Rangers apart from everyone else.  
"It's a very simple trick," Will rejoined Angie sitting next to her on the ground. "Most people won't be looking for someone. The cloaks help break up our shape, but we have to remain perfectly still."  
"Even if someone sees us," Angie asked skeptically. Will nodded.  
"Especially if you think you've been spotted. People will look for movement. They'll see what they want to see," he repeated the words Halt had told him a thousand times. "If all they expect are trees and grass, then that's all they'll see."  
"Then how will I know when to move," she arched one of her brows failing to mimic the Ranger.  
"We'll get to that," Will promised with a smile. "Right now, we're going to work on staying perfectly still."  
If Angie had any expectations about this task, they were crushed almost instantly. She had liked the talk of not moving. That sounded exceedingly easy in theory. Actually sitting still and not moving was impossible.  
She had no more than found a nice hiding place to practice in than she had to sneeze. Nothing could stop that sneeze from coming, not even her customary chant about pineapple elephants. And it was a loud one. Angie groaned rubbing her nose after the fact trying to determine what had caused that horrendous thing.  
"Move and try again," Will was behind her, and startled, Angie screamed. "Move and try again," Will repeated, shooing her away with his hand.  
The second spot was in a tangle of roots from a trio of hickory trees. Angie weaseled her way into a tight fit, and lay sprawled out for several minutes. Miraculously a twig worked its way into her stomach, and the more she tried to ignore it, the deeper it dug into her abdomen. She could not take it and reached around to remove the twig.  
"Try again," if she had not been tangled up in the roots, she would have leapt at the sound of Will's voice right behind her.  
Angie shimmied out of the tree roots and set off in search of a new hiding place, deciding that she did not like this game. She grumbled as she stalked through the trees, not even caring that she was making unnecessary noise that made it impossible to Will to miss her. When she finally found a spot, Will was already there. Grumbling even louder she set off for a new location.  
Will sent Angie off for a new hiding place more times than he cared to count in a single hour. Finally she seemed to have the hang of the exercise. Will had turned away while she sought out her hiding place and when he turned to watch her, he had no idea where she had settled to hide.  
Will scanned the forest around him slowly, his eyes unfocused so he could catch any movement. There was nothing. Will frowned wondering how Angie had managed to suddenly become so good at remaining still. He started walking through the brush in the direction he had last seen her, hoping to come across her trail. There was nothing there, it seemed she was better at stealth than Will had given her credit for.  
"Where did she go," he muttered quietly looking around him once again. "She hasn't wandered off completely, has she?"  
He searched longer than he liked before he came across a small indent in the grass, telling him that Angie had passed through that way. Satisfied that he had finally found Angie he set off after her, and nearly tripped over her.  
Angie was stretched out in the grass, her cloak spread out over her back, the cowl over her head helping her blend in. Her head was resting on crossed arms, and her breathing was deep and regular. The young apprentice was sleeping.  
Will shook his head looking down at her. She had finally managed to remain perfectly still and she had fallen asleep. They had a long way to go, and he could already see how much trouble this was going to be.  
Gently he shook the girl awake. Angie groaned stretching as she rolled over and sat up. She smiled up at him happily, like she had done nothing wrong.  
"Have a nice nap," he asked helping her to her feet.  
"You took too long, I got bored," she responded through a massive yawn.  
"So you decided to take a nap," he asked curtly, hoping she would hear the displeasure in his voice.  
"It was an involuntary action," she yawned again covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "But I did it, you didn't find me."  
Will could not help but smile at the girl beaming at him. She did have a point, but she still should not have taken a nap when they were training.  
"Next time, let's avoid the naps," she nodded as they headed back for the cabin.  
"I'll be better," Will hoped she could actually keep that promise. He loved her for who she was, but her lack of focus would make things extremely difficult later in her training.


	8. Chapter 7

The weeks progressed slowly. Angie learned quickly but as she constantly told Will, she was easily distracted. What should have taken no time at all to master, took Angie weeks. Once a skill became adequate, Angie moved on to something else. And despite Will's constant repetition of the Ranger motto: "Ordinary people practice until they get it right. A Ranger practices until they never get it wrong." Angie could not focus. And her apology was always accompanied with, "I'll be better."  
The summer was coming to a close by the time Will closed in on his breaking point. He had said it was not a problem at the beginning of the apprenticeship, Angie's distracted nature. But now he was not at all certain whether or not it was a fatal flaw. The Gathering was coming up and Will was debating presenting Angie before Gilan has his apprentice.  
If he could just get her to concentrate.  
Only one thing had made an impression on the girl, and that was her horse Starburst. Working with the animal gave her something to do, and the little horse was so peculiar about how things were done that Angie had to do it perfectly. Starburst had to be feed before Angie fetched water, otherwise the little horse leapt the paddock fence and followed the apprentice around. If he was not brushed to his very high standard, Starburst went out and rolled in everything he could find so Angie would have to brush him again.  
It took a few weeks for Will to realize what was happening, after he had punished Angie for not taking proper care of her horse, and she had fought about how unfair he was being. Even after discovering what was happening, Will still made Angie groom her horse as long for and as many times as it took. This made her excellent at caring for the animal, mainly because she got tired of brushing him six or seven times a day.  
Perhaps, if Will had really been paying attention, he would have seen the solution his problem. But Will had been certain that a show of force would get the girl to focus. So he threw out punishments left and right, breathed now her neck while she was practicing everything and even challenged her to little competitions. Nothing got through to her.  
One morning Will was reading through his mail while Angie scrubbed the dishes from breakfast. As long as he was near her he could keep the apprentice from wondering off. On the top of the pile was a letter from Gilan.  
Will opened the letter and read through it quickly, a smile spreading across his face. The letter could be exactly what Will needed to get Angie to focus. He looked up at the girl with the smile still growing, trips always helped.  
"It seems we've been given a mission." Angie looked up from her work, brushing her hair from her face with the back of her hand.  
"A mission," she asked setting the pan she had been cleaning down on the sink. "I thought we just patrolled Redmont."  
"Normally yes, but I'm part of a Task Force."  
"That thing set up under King Duncan's reign with the knight," Angie scratched her temple with a thumb. "They're the ones who," she sighed sinking into a chair at the table, "did that treaty with the Skandians, and the Arridi."  
"Yes and no," Will was amazed that Angie could remember that. She had a very selective memory, selective being that she was not always paying attention. "The Task Force was founded because of those events. The first official mission was in Hibernia," he could tell he had lost her, Angie had started fiddling with her necklace again. "To get to the point, I'm part of the Task Force."  
"Who's your partner?"  
"You," he answered, so pleased to have a question in sync with the topic he did not even mind that she had interrupted him. "And Maddie, and Horace, and the little battle school student Horace is training."  
A lot of that statement made no sense to Angie. For starters, she was not a partner, she was an apprentice. Second who were Maddie and Horace, she felt like she should have known but she did not. And finally: since where battle school students trained outside of a battle school? Angie had known that knights helped train battle school students, but since when did they pull them out for specialized training?  
"Um, right," she bit her lip tapping her fingers on the table. "Can we down play that partner thing? I don't think I'm really Task Force ready."  
"No," Will smiled, "Maddie, Horace and the battle school student will be here this afternoon."  
"Right," Angie sighed, her fingers drummed the table at a faster pace. "Who are Maddie and Horace?"

Maddie was blonde, she wore a Ranger's cloak and she limped but that hardly slowed the woman down. She charged up the steps of the cabin, patting the dog on the head as she passed and tackle hugged Will, who had just barely managed to stand up before Maddie hit him. Will hugged her in return, making Angie feel like she was intruding on a very private moment.  
"Uncle Will," Maddie said breathlessly pulling away from the old Ranger. "It's so good to see you again."  
"You too Maddie," Will stroked her long hair back with his hand. "How did you convince Evanlyn to let you come?"  
"It's my job," the young Ranger smiled, "Even the queen has to realize that I'm a Ranger first."  
"I hope you didn't say that to her," Will could not suppress a grin. "She'll ring my neck for that."  
"I wouldn't worry too much," Maddie waved the threat aside. "Mum is much too busy to chase you around the world."  
There it was. Angie remembered who Maddie was. Will had trained the Crowned Princess as a Ranger. Will had talked about it during one of their boring history lessons that Angie only half listened too. The Maddie coming on this mission was Princess Madelyn heir to the throne of Araluen. It was starting out to be a very interesting afternoon. But the surprises were not finished yet.  
"Did you know he has a Ranger's cloak," Maddie asked. Will's brow knitted together looking at his former apprentice.  
"No," he finally responded stroking his beard.  
"Well he does," Maddie nodded. "He spent most of the ride to Wensley asking if I could see him," Maddie looked like she had been suffering at the bad end of a joke for several days when she rolled her eyes.  
Angie could not understand what the problem was. The cloak was supposed to camouflage the wearer so they were harder to see. Will had explained it several times. So this Horace character had a Ranger's cloak, surely someone working in close proximity to the Ranger's would have one and be trained in how to use it.  
"He was riding a horse wasn't he," Will offered after several minutes of silent thought. Maddie nodded, a smile spread over Will's face once more. "Halt gave him that cloak, back when we were chasing Tenison and the Outsiders!"  
"You knew he had the cloak," Maddie looked out raged. "I've just spent three days riding cross country with a knight on a battle horse asking if he was invisible, and you knew he had the cloak!"  
"I didn't think he still had it," Will defended himself. "That was ages ago, and it didn't even fit him. I thought Halt took it back after we returned home." Maddie narrowed her eyes at her former mentor and shook her head. "Where is old Horace anyway?"  
There was a creak on the steps out front, "See, I told you I was a master at this."  
A tall knight stood in the doorway. He was not dressed in full armor, but he was wearing chain mail and had a shield strapped to his back. He also wore a mottled Ranger's cloak, which was as ill fitting as Will had suggested.  
"Where the devil did you spring from," Will feigned surprise at the less than sudden appearance of his best friend. "And who gave you that cloak?"  
"A gift from Halt," Horace beamed entering the cabin and wrapping Will in a tight embrace. "Remember, in that drowned Forest."  
"Uncle Halt gave you a cloak," Maddie sighed. "I thought he had more sense than that."  
"You weren't there, you don't know," Horace looked down his nose at the Princess. "Maybe someday, we'll tell you the story."  
"Uncle Will already told me the story," Maddie retorted.  
Horace turned to his friend affronted, "you told her already?"  
"Angie hasn't heard it," Will grabbed his young apprentice, who had been contentedly watching from a corner, and drug to into the center of the room. "I'm sure she'd be thrilled to hear all about the drowned forest."  
Angie gave a very forced smile as Maddie and Horace closed rank on her. She gulped several times as well, wishing they would back up and continue their little banter. "Hi," she whispered waving with three fingers.  
"She's the girl," Maddie said after a quick inspection turning to Will. Will nodded, but Angie saw him signal with his hand for Maddie to stop there.  
Horace must have missed the sign, he plowed on through, "She looks like him."  
Will and Maddie both covered their eyes with their hands and sighed. Angie perked up. Horace had said she looked like someone, he must know at least one of her parents. She was about to ask when the dog barked. The four people in the cabin all turned to look as a boy climbed the steps.  
Angie felt her heart, which had just risen to her throat in anticipation of information about her parents, drop to the pit of her stomach. Standing in the doorway of the Ranger's cabin stood the battle school apprentice. Tall, lithe and equipped with a sword, shield and chain mail, his wolfish smile flashing.  
Johnny Pritchard was the apprentice knight joining the Task Force.  
"Ah, you found us," Horace clapped the boy on the shoulder drawing him into the cabin to present to Will and Maddie. "This is Jonathan," Horace started.  
"Johnny, sir," the apprentice knight interrupted.  
"Johnny, then," Horace nodded. "Johnny Pritchard, Sir Brian tells me he's a natural," the knight grinned.  
Will looked at the boy then to his own apprentice. Angie's face was losing color and Will knew why. The battle school apprentice was the leader of the group that had bullied Angie while in the Ward.  
Maddie seemed to pick up on the tension. "What's wrong," she turned to Angie, giving the girl an encouraging smile.  
"Nothing," Angie whispered, her hand reaching for the twin oak leaves around her neck. She dropped her eyes to the floor and shuffled her feet. Maddie looked to Will, who turned to Horace.  
"Angie, will you please go to your room and get ready to leave." Angie looked up at him, he could not read her expression, but she nodded and backed to her door. Once it had shut Will turned to the battle school apprentice. "I've a feeling Sir Brian sent you with a horse, why not take him round back and give him a good rub down before we get started," the boy looked to Horace.  
Horace had by then picked up on the tension in the room and nodded for the boy to go. Closing the door once he saw that Johnny was leading his horse around back to the paddock. Will watched the boy through the window; then turned to look at Angie's door, making certain it had been shut all the way.  
"What's going on," Maddie whispered following Will's gaze.  
Will held up his hand for silence until he heard the distinct sound of Angie walking across her room, pacing like she always did when she was nervous. "Angie was bullied in the Ward," Will looked back to the window, where he could see the boy half heartedly combing his battle horse.  
"What," Maddie shook her head, dismissing the question. "Johnny came from the ward didn't he?"  
Horace and Will both nodded. Brian had told Horace that the boy had come from the Ward. That had been part of the reason Horace had chosen him to join the Task Force.  
"From what I could tell, and if Angie's face is any indication, Johnny was the leader of the little gang."  
"He seemed like such a nice kid," Horace looked over his shoulder to the window. "Brian says he the most agreeable boy, always on time, very polite."  
"Well, we can't bring him along if he's just going to antagonize Angie," Maddie interrupted her father. Horace looked hurt, but Maddie stood by it. "This is just a test run isn't it? It's not like you've already told him he's in."  
Horace looked at the ground shuffling his feet. "Dad!"  
"I didn't know, Gilan said I could choose and they'd be in. I wasn't expecting this," Horace waved his hand toward the window, where Will could see that Johnny had given up on pretending to comb the battle horse and was trying to rope Tug.  
"So what are we going to do," Maddie turned back to Will. No offense to her father, but Maddie tended to expect leadership from her former Mentor. Apparently so did Horace.  
"We'll take them out. See how it goes," Will looked back to Angie's room. "If it gets out of hand, a few apprentices might have to rethink their futures."

**A/N I am so sorry about the delay in the chapter release. But I've had one of those weekends where Life caught up with me and I was away from my computer. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	9. Chapter 8

Johnny had finally managed to rope the shaggy little horse and was about to mount the ugly thing when the door to the cabin opened. He had expected some form of retribution when he looked back to see the Rangers and the daft looking old knight on the porch, but they said nothing. Johnny took that for a good sign and proceeded to mount.  
The little horse was like a rock, it looked back at him with one large brown eye as Johnny settled on his back. Johnny felt very proud of himself, it had taken too long in his opinion to catch the beast and he had anticipated the horse would not take be ridden well. Johnny sat with a stupid grin on his face for a full ten seconds before the horse went insane.  
It leapt straight up, a movement Johnny had until that point believed impossible for a horse, with all four legs flying in a different direction. Once the animal was off the ground it twisted around, the head going to the left, the rear to the right and rising higher. Screaming like a girl, Johnny was launched over the horse's head, head over heels, and skidded a full three meters across the paddock into the fence.  
It must have been comical, they were all laughing. Johnny sat up slowly rubbing his face carefully. It stung, not only that but he could feel bruises developing from his sword banging against him while he flew through the air and slid across the ground. On top of all that, his pride had just been trampled by a dumb, shaggy pony.  
"I didn't think Tug could still do that," the old Ranger roughly hoisted Johnny to his feet by the arm. "I hope you learned something."  
"Yes, your horse is stupid," Johnny glared over his shoulder at the horse, which had come to stand next to Johnny and the Ranger.  
"Oh, he's not too stupid," the knight, Johnny recalled his name was Horace, smiled rubbing the horse between the ears. "Tug here is one of the smartest horses I've ever met."  
It was a joke, a very big practical joke. That old Ranger had no doubt told the others about that time he had caught Johnny bulling Angie, and this was their revenge. There was no way that horse was smart, and there was no way the Ranger would be able to ride him. So the joke was on all of them, he was not falling for this.  
"How smart can it be, no one can ride it?"  
The horse looked offended, actually offended and snorted shaking his head. The Ranger smiled and rubbed the horse's muzzle, "don't listen to him Tug, he just doesn't know you yet." The horse snorted again.  
"He just doesn't like apprentices," the woman Ranger supplied with a smile.  
"Or battle school students," the old knight rubbed his back side as if remembering being thrown from the horse in a similar matter.  
Another part of the joke, there was no way the same horse had thrown the old knight when he had been in battle school. Horses did not live that long. "You were watching, you saw it," he decided to call their bluff. The horse was stupid, and unable to be ridden, end of story.  
Instead of responding the old Ranger just swung up on the horse's back. The animal stood like a rock once again. Johnny narrowed his eyes watching, waiting for the horse to throw the old man. It never happened.  
"Well he won't throw you, it's your horse!"  
"Gorlog's toes, Horace, he's right," the Ranger swung down. "Tug is my horse. Maddie, how can we prove Tug simply doesn't like apprentices?"  
"Why not have someone else ride him," Maddie raised her brow looking at the old knight. "What about you?"  
"I think I'll stick to my horse," the knight eyed the little horse carefully. "Tug's a bit too small for my liking."  
"Come on, he hasn't thrown you in years." The bearded Ranger clapped the knight on the shoulder with a barking laugh. "Why, we were still apprentices when that happened."  
"I also haven't seen him in years," the knight took a step back.  
He was afraid, Johnny realized. The old knight, who had claimed the beast was a smart enough to recognize and only throw apprentices, was scared because he knew the horse would throw him like a sack of grain too. The joke was about to fall apart.  
"Come on Horace, Tug won't throw you," the old Ranger smiled. Horace looked between the two Rangers and the horse and sighed.  
"Fine," he swung his leg up over the horse.  
Nothing happened. Johnny had been certain that the horse was going to throw the knight. Horace smiled and clicked his tongue, the little horse moved around the paddock in a small circle stopping between the Rangers.  
"Let me try again," Johnny swung up on the horse again.  
Rock solid for ten seconds and then a whirlwind of movement; straight up, around in a circle, hind quarters acting like a catapult. Johnny soared over the fence and rolled across the yard. The Rangers and the knight busted to laughing again, the woman holding her sides doubled over.  
"Weird," Maddie commented, gasping, looking at the battle school apprentice with his rear stuck up in the air. "It seems he really doesn't like battle school apprentices."  
The joke had gone far enough. They had made their point. "If this is retribution for stuff I did in the ward, it's unnecessary." Johnny pushed himself up off the ground, trying to regain some sense of dignity. "I've already learned my lesson."  
The three adults crossed their arms looking down at him on the ground. They looked mad. He knew they were not buying his claim. Since joining Battle School things had been going his way, he had a new crew around him that were far more intelligent than the others had been, he was a star pupil since he was what the Battle School instructors called a natural, he had even been granted a position in advanced classes after his probationary period.  
Someone must have let them in on how he acted in the battle school outside of classes.  
"We think you have now," the knight was not smiling, his serious face was discerning.  
"And we will be watching," the woman's face mirrored the knight's.  
"Now, dust yourself off, look after your horse and then sit on the porch while we get ready to leave." The old ranger opened the gate and allowed the others to pass in front of him. "And just so you know, the other horses on this trip will all do the same thing."  
Johnny looked sideways at the horses in the paddock and the two munching grass in front of the cabin. The three little beasts he could understand, but the battle horse the knight rode? Johnny could not believe that. As soon as he was alone, he was going to prove that he could ride any of these dumb horses. He was a natural after all.  
The battle horse threw him, the woman's horse threw him, the other shaggy pony in the corral threw him and the original horse, Tug followed him around mockingly. After being thoroughly humiliated by a herd of dumb equestrians, Johnny gave up and dropped down on the edge of the porch to wait for the others to come out. Joke or not, he was already ready for this thing to be over with.  
Angie was the first out. She had a saddle bag tossed over her shoulder and an array of weaponry at her waist. She ignored him as she skipped down the steps, patting the dog on the head as she did so. Johnny twisted around on the edge of the veranda to watch her.  
The small horse with the white starburst on his face nickered happily when Angie climbed over the fence. He butted her on the shoulder as she entered the small stable attached to the back of the cabin and backed out when Angie came out with a saddle. "Here, she produced an apple from her saddle bag for the pony, "but don't tell Will, alright." The horse whinnied happily tossing his head before eating the apple.  
The horse stood still while Angie tacked him, snorting occasionally and looking back at her. Angie smiled rubbing his neck with her hand, talking to him like they were carrying on a conversation. Once the horse was tacked, it followed her out into the yard. The other one followed as well, Angie smiled rubbing him between the ears.  
"Tug," she said, "You know you're supposed to stay in here until Will comes out." The horse snorted, shaking his head. "I know he was already out here, but you're going to have wait a bit longer." The horse nickered, "it's not my fault."  
Angie smiled closing the gate, and walked her horse around to the front of the cabin. Johnny watched her darkly.  
He had not spoken to her but he could tell she was a totally different person than she had been in the ward at Redmont. The little freak was happy, and fitting in, and probably able to ride those stupid animals that had bucked him. What was more, for the first time in a long time everyone seemed to like her more than they did him.  
"Stay," she made a signal with her hand and turned to climb to steps. Johnny climbed to his feet and followed her to the door, wondering if he was allowed in yet.  
"We should be able to make it to the coast by the end of the week," the old Ranger was saying when Angie opened the door. "From there all we have to do is conscript a ship to sail us across the Narrow Sea."  
"Where are we going," Angie stopped at the table. Johnny prepared for them to tell her off. It was not an apprentice's place to be at the war table or in the planning meeting. That was why he was told to stay outside.  
Johnny had his hopes set far too high.  
"We're sailing to Skandia," Maddie answered. "They're electing a new Oberjarl and Queen Cassandra wants us to make sure our treaties will still hold with the new leader."  
"We're sailing to Skandia for that," Angie looked up at the three adults. "Shouldn't this be the work of the Diplomats?"  
"Well, it has always been my opinion, that royals tend to be more awe inducing when making treaties," The old Ranger smiled looking up at Horace.  
The knight nodded agreement, "it was only because Cassandra was in Skandia during the Temujai invasion that the treaty even exists."  
"The Queen was part of an invasion," Angie asked looking around at the adults. Johnny wanted to throttle her, they had learned about that in the Ward.  
Cassandra had been taken captive when Morgarath attempted to take the kingdom a second time. She had spent close to a year in Skandia with an apprentice Ranger, and was part of the Araluen group who defended the Skandian capital from the Temujai. She was also the one who actually signed the Skandian treaty, officially making them allies with Araluen.  
"No," the bearded Ranger shook his head. He would say something, Johnny was sure of it; he was Angie's mentor after all. "She defended Hallasholm against an invasion."  
"And besides, I can think of a few skirls and jarls who will be displeased if Will doesn't show up. They invited him special," the knight gave a goofy grin to the grim faced Ranger, who smiled in response.  
"It's true," Will nodded before turning back to Angie. "And Skandia is a perfect place for you to learn about what it's all about to be on the Task Force."  
"Because it's the oldest treaty the Task Force had anything to do with?"  
"Because the Skandian's are easy enough to deal with," Horace responded. "Give them a drink and get them started on their wolfships, tell them how great their ship is, take them a few rounds and they'll be your friend for life."  
"That or save their life," the elder Ranger offered.  
"Exactly," Horace nodded.  
"Is that why that smelly seawolf likes to drag you onboard Wolfwill? And calls you the general?"  
"That smelly seawolf happens to be a very close friend," Horace defended looking down his nose at her, a look he had improved greatly in recent years. "He helped us retake Castle Macindaw, aided us with the Civil War in Nihon-Ja and he was at both of the weddings. He even saved the Queen's life."  
"Such history," Maddie rolled her eyes looking down at Angie. "Don't worry, the Skandians aren't that scary."  
"Well, now that we have a plan we can set off."  
"Tug's still not saddled," Angie remarked.  
The old Ranger nodded, "yes, and we still have to send word to Liam in Whitby so he knows we've gone. Maddie if you could," he never finished the sentence. The old Ranger left the cabin, side stepping Johnny and went to saddle Tug.  
"His mind still gets ahead of him sometimes," Horace laughed sitting at the table. "Do we have time for coffee?"


	10. Chapter 9

Angie was not sure what she had been expecting when Will had told her that they were leaving on a mission. But one thing was certain; she had not been expecting a week long journey on horseback. Or sailing the Stormwhite on a Wolfship.  
Not that it was boring. The seawolves were a very rowdy bunch, yelling and cursing all day and most of the night. They toned down the cursing after Will, Horace and Maddie reprimanded them about the fact that ladies were onboard, as well as children, but only a little.  
The skirl was a man by the name of Borak, he was twice as tall as Angie and had a head full of coarse black hair, beard included, that stuck out in every direction. He shouted everything, and took great joy in shouting at the Rangers. He was also particularly fond of commanding Johnny Pritchard about, making him take a turn on the oars at least once a day.  
An old friend of Will and Horace joined them at Castle Araluen. He was a mountain of a man ran at them screaming about a general and waving a battle axe over his head. He had given bear hugs that should have broken backs, including to Angie and Johnny who had never met the man before, and saddled up on a shaggy little pony he dwarfed to join them cross country to the coast.  
"Nils just gets a bit excited," Will explained while they camped that night.  
"He seems like an idiot," Johnny had commented, Angie was fairly certain that was the reason Borak had Johnny hard at work while they crossed the Stormwhite. When she mentioned it to Nils, he had given her a very conspicuous wink.  
She liked to stand at the bow of the ship, behind the hideous figure head to watch the water stretching out before them. Angie was fascinated by the sea. Most of the crew left her alone while she was up there, sometimes they joined her, telling tales of the sea. For once in her life Angie felt she was actually focused on something, the Skandians were amazing.  
She was standing at the bow when the Skandian coast appeared on the horizon. She grinned leaning over the figure head to see the pine filled coast. Skandia was the first country she was going to visit.  
"Skandia," she breathed.  
"Beautiful," Angie jumped hearing Horace behind her; for a blundering knight, he was capable of being as silent as Will when he wanted to be. "First time I've seen her shore sailing inbound."  
"I thought you fought in the Battle of Hallasholm," she instantly regretted speaking. She often confused her facts, placing people in the wrong battles, battles in the wrong countries under false generals. Sometimes she completely made up battles and generals, but she knew that was not the case this time.  
"I did," the King smiled kindly at her. "But I rode into Skandia out of Gallica with Will's mentor Halt. I sailed from Skandia with the Oberjarl at the time."  
"Erak Starfollower," Angie supplied. She remembered at least that much. "His ship was Wolfwind, wasn't it?"  
Horace smiled nodding.  
"Can I ask you a question?"  
"You already have," Horace laughed at the confused look on Angie's face. "But you can ask another one."  
"Will said you were the king," she started trying to form her question.  
"That's not a question."  
"I was leading up to it. How come you're still doing this Task Force stuff?"  
Horace chuckled, "I like doing Task Force stuff."  
"But don't you have to run the country? What's going to happen while we're gone? Who's going to make sure some fief doesn't revolt?"  
"I would say the Queen can handle it."  
"But you're the King," Angie looked up at him, like that should have made her argument.  
"I married a Princess, I was never groomed to rule."  
"You're still the King."  
"Have you ever heard of a figure head?"  
"There's one on the bow of the ship."  
"Yes, but it's also kind of what I am. I have the title of King, but Cassandra is the ruling force on the throne. She makes decisions, creates laws, manages the ruling of the kingdom."  
"So you can do Task Force stuff?"  
"Some yes," Horace answered. "Now, why don't we join the others at the tiller. We have to talk about our plans once we reach Hallasholm."  
Angie forced a wan smile. Discussions, discussions, and more discussions, it felt like all she had done this entire voyage was talk. Angie had no patience for talk, something Will had pointed out to her often enough. Horace must have caught the force behind the smile, he tried an encouraging smile.  
"I had no patience when I was an apprentice either."  
"But I'm an apprentice Ranger," she nearly whined her shoulders slumping. "I'm supposed to be able to sit for hours and hours focusing on my breathing, thinking up brilliant complex strategies, mastering skills like this sling, and the bow and throwing knives and hiding from Will in plain sight." Her voice rose in pitch as she listed off the impossible tasks Will was expecting of her.  
"Does it work," Horace asked feeling sympathy for the girl.  
"Hiding in plain sight," Horace nodded. "When I fall asleep," she looked down at the ground ashamed.  
Horace laughed; a deep bellowing laugh that startled the rowing crew. "That is one I haven't heard before," he chuckled laying his hand on Angie's shoulder to lead her to the tiller where Will, Maddie and Johnny were waiting with Nils Ropehander and the Skirl.  
"You won't tell Will, will you?"  
"I think he already knows," Angie's face paled. "But your secret's safe with me."  
At the tiller, Will was eyeing the battle school apprentice carefully. So far there had been no arguing between the apprentices, largely due to the fact that Borak had put the self-entitled youth to work rowing the ship. The boy was exhausted standing there, he swayed opposite the natural movement of the ship, his eyes drooping.  
It had been Horace's idea to set the boy up with work, in theory it would knock the arrogance right out of him. Will believed it was working, but he could also see reason for him to be more vindictive to Angie, who had done little work while aboard the wolfship. Granted Angie had been practicing in one of the holds below deck with Horace and Maddie most days, but Johnny had not seen that.  
Now that Skandia had come into view Will knew they would have to lay some ground rules to end any of the bickering before it could get started. Maddie had agreed and forced Horace into agreeing. Horace had believed that they would just work their problems out, after all he and Will had solved their problems without assistance. Will liked to think it would work out that way, but his instincts told him otherwise.  
Once Angie and Horace had joined them Will looked to Borak to begin.  
"We should reach the coast in a few hours, we're going to sail up the coast to reach Hallasholm. We should dock at Hallasholm by sunset tomorrow." Will nodded.  
"Once we reach Hallasholm there a few things you should know."  
"Like what," as tired as he was, Johnny was still managing to have an attitude. "That we shouldn't look cross-eyed at them?"  
"Like, 'don't insult them', more like," Nils glared down at the boy.  
"The Skandians are our friends, but they do not take well to insults of courage," Nils and Borak nodded, "strength," again the Skandians nodded, "or their ships. They love a challenge and will take any odds, but they do not appreciate being mocked relentlessly about their loses."  
"They also have a sore spot about their ships and deities," Horace added, Nils nodded enthusiastically.  
"Right," Will looked at the two apprentices. "We are here on a diplomatic mission, guests of the Senior Jarls while they elect a new Oberjarl. Yes Johnny," the battle school apprentice had his hand raised.  
"Why is a pair of Ranger's, an old knight and a pair of apprentices on a diplomatic mission? As guests of a bunch of jarls?"  
"Because they know and trust Horace and Will," Maddie answered. "They helped defend Hallasholm from the Temujai."  
"Yea, I know all of that," Johnny snapped at the Ranger. "But shouldn't this be a mission for the Couriers or the part of the Royal Party?"  
Angie snorted.  
"Got something to say," Johnny turned on her. He would have attacked her if she had not been standing between Will and Nils.  
"Gone a bit daft haven't you," Angie shook her head, a small smile pulling at her lips.  
"What's that supposed to mean," Johnny narrowed his eyes. Will had the feeling he was about to lunge at the apprentice Ranger.  
"I thought I was bad at history," Angie rolled her eyes; an action Will had never seen her use before. "Princess Cassandra married the battle school apprentice who fought along-side her in Hallasholm."  
Will could see Johnny's mind working, processing what Angie had said. He was slow on the uptake, and Angie was enjoying holding something over the boy's head. She rolled her eyes again and sighed.  
"The 'daft ole knight' you keep complaining about is the battle school apprentice who fought against the Temujai." It still was not registering in Johnny's mind. Angie sighed and motioned with an open hand at Horace, "King Horace of Araluen." Johnny's face lost color so quickly Will thought he was going to be sick, which probably was not too far from the truth. Angie smirked happily, "and the 'annoying woman' is crowned Princess Madelyn."  
Johnny's mouth opened and closed several times before he could finally manage to speak. Even then his first attempt was a waterfall of gibberish. "You're the—and the—I thought—why would," he stopped dropping to his knee and bowing his head. "I apologize for my rude behavior. Had I but known," Angie snorted again.  
"You would have been a little angel," Maddie laughed at the comment, covering her mouth hastily with her hand. Will and Horace both glared at her, then at Angie.  
"I believe that's enough," Will spoke with a dry tone, ending the banter between the apprentices.  
Angie raised her brow in mock surprise, once more attempting to copy Will's brow raising expression, making an innocent gesture with her hands, "I was just saying."  
Will determined Angie had spent too much time with the Skandians and Maddie. But there was nothing he could do about that, they were sailing for the Skandian capital. But at least she was not being cowed by Johnny, unless she was just being brave because she was surrounded by people who would support her. That was unimportant at the moment as well.  
"As I was saying," Will tried to bring the conversation back to the reason they had gathered. "Once we land in Hallasholm we will be staying the Oberjarl's Palace, curtsey of the senior jarls, and we have to set a few ground rules."  
"Rule one, leave the jarls alone," Borak grunted. "Most importantly their possessions."  
Will nodded. "The senior jarls have storage in the palace, you do not touch any of it. You need to leave the jarls alone while they discuss the next Oberjarl, I don't expect you'll see them during the discussion but you need to leave them alone anyway.  
"The second rule is no fighting. We are here peacefully, I will not take your weapons away but I expect you to conduct yourself in a responsible manner." Will eyed the two apprentices separately. Angie and Johnny both knew he was talking about them, Maddie would know better and the apprentices were still butting heads.  
"Third," Will continued, "I hope both of you will learn something on this trip. Staying in Hallasholm when I was an apprentice was a very eye-opening experience. This is a good chance to learn about another culture, experience new things and expose the new members of the Task Force to the types of responsibilities they will have."  
"So there are only three rules," Johnny asked.  
He had expected a lot of rules and a schedule they would be following, filled with meetings they would have to sit through, people he would have to meet and training time with Horace and the Rangers. The Ranger was practically giving him run of the capital of Skandia, and all he would have to do is not argue with Angie, a person he would spend as little time with as possible. It was too good to be true.  
"Those are just the ground rules," Horace smiled. "There are other things, we'll have training sessions in the green, I imagine some of the jarls and skirls will want to meet you both, teach you a thing or two about the wolfships."  
"And fighting," Nils added with a grin. "Can't visit Hallasholm and not learn about fighting."  
"Naturally," Horace beamed.  
It was going to be as bad as Johnny had originally thought.


	11. Chapter 10

The city of Hallasholm glowed in the light of the setting sun, the timber of the houses and the palisade was old and weathered giving a very rustic feel to the whole city. It was summer but Angie had a chill as the port master oversaw the unloading of the horses.  
"Horses," he spat watching as Tug was hoisted from the hull of the wolfship, "why do you always feel the need to bring horses?"  
"I learned a long time ago, never go anywhere without your horse," Will was waiting to consol his shaggy horse when they lowered him on the dock. "You never know what could happen."  
"I'm sure," the port master sad drily. "I hope you're not intending to start anything like you did last time you were here," he gave the Araluens a baleful glance.  
"We never intend for those things to happen," Horace supplied from where he was stroking his battle horse's muzzle. "We always just seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."  
"Let's avoid that then," the port master sniffed turning to look at the sea wolves unloading the horses. "I'll send word that you have horses up to the Oberjarl's Palace, they can prepare the stables."  
"Thank you," Will smiled as Tug was set on the wooden planks of the dock; the horse snorted shaking his head as the harness was removed.  
The port master sighed waving the thanks aside as he turned and started up the dock, Angie thought she heard the word, "Araluens," followed by some rough Skandian terms. Nils watched after him with a scowl.  
"Port masters," he cursed, "they think they're so much better than everyone else."  
"Bout like tax collectors," Borak snorted from the deck.  
Once all the horses were unloaded, the Araluen's gear was packed into the saddles Will and Horace led the group from the docks to the Palace.  
Angie had briefly seen Castle Araluen as they rode past it for the coast. It had been tall with spires and banners waving in the wind. The Oberjarl's Palace was nothing like that, it was a short building made from pine logs that stretched out as opposed to up. It had a wall separating it from the rest of the city, and Will had to talk the man at the gate into letting them enter with their horses, they exchanged something and the group was allowed to pass.  
Inside the wall people were running everywhere, carrying buckets, logs, leading animals on halters and at least a dozen other tasks. Angie could see Will scowling at them as he walked for the main entrance of the Palace. Bad memories, Angie guessed and decided not to ask. At the door they were met by a stuffy little man.  
He looked down his nose at them, which was a very odd expression since Angie was the same height at the man and she was the smallest of the group from Araluen. Will returned the man's cross look with a heavy sigh. If Will had been expecting this he had not let it show and if he had not expected it, he was not just going to stand aside.  
Angie was impressed. Short as the man was he was still a Skandian, and they were a race of crazy fighters. It took a lot of nerve to stare one down; even more to do so in the Skandian capital at the door to the palace. She would never have done that, she was frightened while Will was facing him down.  
"No one said anything about horses," the man finally broke eye contact with Will.  
"I'm sure the jarls will not mind too terribly," Will returned coolly.  
"I am Hilfmann, I'll say how much the senor jarls will mind," the man sniffed narrowing his eyes. "And no one said anything about horses."  
"We are here at the request of the senior jarls," Horace stepped forward.  
"So I've been told," the Hilfmann looked down his nose again.  
"And we are a royal delegation," Maddie stepped up on Will's other side, providing her personal seal for the man.  
The Hilfmann's attitude changed instantly. His face lit up in a broad smile as he stepped back from the Araluens. "I had not realized we had such revered guests," he bowed slightly. "I'll have the stables prepared right away, for all you're horses."  
Will looked to the sky with a shake of his head. It was not enough that he had been invited personally to Hallasholm, it seemed he could only accomplish anything because he had a member of Araluen's royal family present. And Maddie had been quick enough to show her signal off; Will doubted the Hilfmann would leave her alone now.  
But they were in the Oberjarl's Palace now, which was better than what Will had been doing. Sometimes staring an opponent down was not the best way. Will vaguely remembered he had told Halt that once, and Halt had snorted at him. It was amazing how much like his mentor he had become.  
"I have rooms prepared," the Hilfmann led them down the hall of the palace. "The jarls have already begun their discussions, but I will tell them when they break for the night. I'm sure they'll insist you join them for evening meal."  
"Sounds lovely," Maddie commented looking in awe at the building. She had heard tales about the splendor of Hallasholm, but nothing her parents had said had ever come close to what she was seeing. There was something about actually seeing a place that just made it better than the stories, and the descriptions her parents gave were very accurate. "How much longer will that be?"  
"They should be breaking for a meal soon," the Hilfmann sounded unsure. "It is almost dark."  
The jarls cared little about what the Hilfmann had to say or guess at. The Araluens waited in their rooms for two hours before the Hilfmann came to tell them the jarls had just finished for the day. Angie was sharing a room with Maddie, Will had more or less ordered that everyone would be sharing rooms so they would not overly inconvenience the jarls. She was laying on the small bed that she would be using during their stay when the Hilfmann arrived.  
"Finally," Maddie muttered from her own bed after the door closed. "I thought their meeting would never end."  
"Does that mean they've elected a new Oberjarl," Angie asked as they left the room. Will had talked about the process of electing a leader from the senior jarls, it was an odd concept to Angie who had pretended to listen to most of the lecture.  
"I doubt it," Maddie answered. "They would have only just started the discussions. I heard someone saying the old Oberjarl had died while we crossed the Stormwhite. Skandians celebrate the passing of the Oberjarl for about a week before they even think about who the next Oberjarl will be."  
"Why were we coming if the old Oberjarl was still alive?"  
"They knew his end was near," Maddie shrugged. "Perhaps they just wanted us over here to see him off."  
That seemed like an odd request. Why have a group sail all the way from Araluen to see a man die? Why have them over here anyway, it was not like they could do anything if the new Oberjarl decided not to honor the treaty Oberjarl Erak had signed.  
"What's the real reason we sailed all the way over here?"  
If the question came as a shock to Maddie, it did not show. She just kept walking, and decidedly ignoring the young apprentice Ranger. They joined Will, Horace and Johnny outside of the Big Hall. They could hear the sounds of people eating and drinking inside the hall. It was ten times louder than the crew on their wolfship.  
"The jarls have already started," Johnny looked at the door like he was expecting it to combust. "Should we just go in?"  
"I didn't come all the way over here to stand outside of the Big Hall while the jarls eat," Horace took hold of the handle. "And I'm not going to bed hungry."  
"Good thing we're in Skandia," Will muttered with a wave of his hand, signaling Horace to go ahead and throw the door open.  
The Big Hall was silent when Horace threw open the door, some of the jarls were standing, one had a large knife raised over his head like he was about to throw it, two had their tankards raised in a toast, and several had their tankards raised to their mouths. Once the jarls realized who had thrown open the doors they burst out in cheering.  
"The Ranger's," one shouted, the jarl who had been about to throw a dagger. "I thought you had all gone to sleep already!"  
"And missed this," Will looked carefully at the five places that had been reserved for the Task Force. None of the places were close together.  
None of them were really sure how it happened, but all five of the Araluens were separated and pulled into conversations with the jarls and the few skirls that had been invited to dine in the Big Hall. Horace was challenging his group at drinking, he was faring well. Will was talking with to a few who had been young seawolves during the Battle for Hallasholm and sailed with him to fool the Temajui before the fighting started. Maddie was talking with a group of jarls who wanted to know what it was like having the general as a father, she assumed they were friends with Nils Ropehander since they called Horace the general.  
Johnny and Angie sadly ended up in the same circle, neither of them were sure how it happened. But one minute Angie had been listening to a skirl talk about the great blue whale and the next Johnny was talking about his training in the battle school at Redmont. Angie was trying to be civil, Johnny however was not.  
"She was always in trouble. We grew up together in at Redmont," Johnny changed subjects quickly, hoping to keep all the attention focused on him. "She snuck out and caused the Baron no end of trouble."  
"I like it," one of the jarls smiled at Angie clapping her on the shoulder with his hand, nearly knocking her to the ground. If anything, that just made her feel worse. "Barons need to be tested; authority figures can't get too comfortable. Or they end up like Loki."  
"Loki?"  
"The Hilfmann," another of the jarls answered. "He was Oberjarl Modi's brother. Not much for fighting but very good at counting the gold," the jarls nodded at the assessment of the Hilfmann.  
"So what kind of trouble did you cause," the jarls turned expectant faces on Angie.  
"Well, one day I stole a couple of roast chickens from the kitchen," she offered, not sure what these Skandians were expecting from her.  
"Ah, liberating chickens," one smiled dreamily. "I use to do that as a boy, from that meal house of Hal's mother."  
"You liberated quite a few things from that place if I remember correctly," another goaded with a laugh. "I remember during Brotherband training you got your hands on a whole goat!"  
The jarl shook his head laughing.  
"What else have you done," they prompted.  
So Angie told them. She listed all the times she snuck off, was caught in a mischievous deed, or started a fight. With each tale the jarls and skirl laughed a regaled in their own stories where they had done something similar. Angie was enjoying herself the more she talked to the rowdy Skadians.  
Johnny, during the conversation, was growing envious. He had been talking badly about Angie so the Skandians would shun her, as it ought to be. Angie was a freak; she did not deserve their praise. His plan had back fired, she would have been ignored if he had just ignored her.  
It seemed his old tactics would no longer work. If he wanted to make sure Angie was kept in her place, he would have to invoke the new methods he had learned in the Battle School from the older apprentices. But that could wait until tomorrow. The Ranger had said they would generally be allowed to do what they wanted. That would be the perfect time to set the apprentice Ranger straight.


	12. Chapter 11

Whatever Johnny had thought the Ranger had meant during their meeting on the wolfship turned out to be entirely made up. There was a predawn wake up time, enforced with a bucket of ice water, and a long morning session on the green with Horace before breakfast. Angie was up before him, she was out in the green when Johnny shuffled out with his practice gear shooting her bow under the watchful eye of Maddie.  
Horace beat Johnny to a pulp. Not intentionally, but Johnny was so out of focus that he could not block the swift strokes of the old knight. With every hit Johnny winced looking down at the assaulted spot picturing the bruises that would appear before the morning was over. After what felt like the whole morning, Johnny could not hold his practice sword in his hands and collapsed to the ground breathing heavily.  
"I think that'll do," Horace beamed at the boy looking over to the Rangers.  
Will and Maddie were demonstrating something to Angie, who unfortunately was not paying attention as she picked grass from where she was sitting on the dewy ground.  
"Angie," Will snapped, breaking away from Maddie who was wielding a long double edged sword, her knives sheathed at her side. Angie jerked upright, looking up at Will with a look laced with remorse. "What did I just say?"  
"That the X thing doesn't work with battle axes. So don't use it when fighting against the Skandians," Angie gave a cheesy grin to the Ranger.  
Will looked up at the sky, as if asking for guidance and sighed looking back at Angie. "Yes, what else did I say?"  
"Maddie said it was harder than it looked," Angie offered.  
"What I said," Johnny was under the impression that this was a normal conversation between the Ranger and his apprentice.  
Angie clicked her tongue looking at the ground between her and the Rangers. Her brow rose marginally, then fell to a point as she thought and then rose again with a tilt of her head. She looked up at Will with a small half smile.  
"Rangers aren't strong close range fighters, so I only use the X thing when I have too. Like I'm not supposed to throw the knives, which I guess makes sense now, since I have to use them for the X thing."  
"The double knife defense," Will corrected.  
"Yes, that," Angie climbed up to her feet, drawing her knives. "But we talked about this like two weeks ago."  
"It obviously didn't stick," Johnny muttered as Horace led him over to the Rangers.  
"We did," Will nodded. "But I said something, just now while demonstrating with Maddie. What was it?"  
"I do not know," she responded instantly, flipping her saxe knife through the air and catching it by the tip of the blade. "Did it have something to do with deflecting the thrust?"  
"Pretty close," Maddie shrugged looking at Will.  
Will looked to the sky again holding his hands out as if once again asking for something. When he looked back he could see Horace and Johnny were coming to join them.  
"Ah, here's our whack and bashers!"  
"Whack and basher at your service," Horace grinned with a mocking bow.  
"Whack and basher," Maddie's brow rose looking at her father.  
"It's what Halt always called me, when he thought I wasn't listening," Horace shrugged. "And there are two of us now, so he's basher," Horace motioned to Johnny not missing a beat. "I like whacking."  
"Now, we were discussing the double knife defense," Will ended the whack and basher comments quickly knowing Horace and Maddie could keep them going for a while. "And as Angie kind of spoke of, we were getting to the part about deflecting the thrust." Will looked between Angie and Johnny, the two who were learning about the defense. "Horace if you would be so kind as to attack Angie, while I defend from Johnny."  
Johnny stood facing the short Ranger, his wooden practice sword weighing heavily in his hand. He had thought the morning session was over. He had believed he was finally going to get breakfast, not more training. And what was this knife defense thing they were talking about anyway?  
The Ranger had two knives in his hand, they rested easily in his grip. What were they expecting? Was Johnny just supposed to attack? That did not seem right; yes, this was a Ranger but all he had were little knives.  
Johnny looked over at Angie who was being supervised by Maddie as Horace swung his sword at her. Angie raised her knives, setting the smaller blade under the larger for support, more or less stopping the sword mid-stroke. Maddie and Horace both smiled and nodded approvingly.  
"Care to try an overhand?" the Ranger asked, startling the battle school apprentice. "I'll try not to carve your practice sword up too much."  
"But all you have are those knives," Johnny pointed with his practice sword.  
"And all you have is a wooden stick, now overhand." Will shouted the last word. Instinct took over, Johnny had spent days in the yard drilling, listing to shouted commands. He swung the wooden shaft up for an overhand, only to have it come to an arm jarring halt.  
The Ranger had crossed his blades, the smaller knife supporting the larger blade. He had done as he said, the wooden practice sword had crashed into the flat of the saxe knife, sparring the practice weapon from damage. Johnny looked down at the crossed knives with a scowl. How was that possible?  
"This is the double knife defense. The second knife gives leverage to the larger weapon, giving it the ability to stop the stroke of the large swords. It works for all stokes, as I will demonstrate."  
Johnny stepped back from the Ranger, waiting for the next command.  
"Underhand, if you don't mind," Will dropped his knives to his side once again. Johnny growled as he preformed the underhanded stroke. The Ranger crossed his blades once again, the flat of the large saxe slapping the practice weapon, stopping the stroke half way through.  
Johnny needed no encouragement for the next stroke, he pulled back and swung at the Ranger's side. Will moved and blocked the attack.  
"Getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren't we?" he asked, a single brow rising. This time the saxe had embedded itself in the hard wooden practice sword. With a flick of his wrist the knife was free, leaving a cut half the width of the shaft. Johnny looked down in anger and amazement, the ease in which the blade had cut his practice sword was impossible.  
"You cut up my practice sword!"  
"You didn't wait for my call," the Ranger responded coolly. "That should be a lesson, I'm attempting to teach you."  
"I'm a battle school apprentice, not an apprentice Ranger."  
"You could still learn," the Ranger looked past Johnny to Horace and the others. "You've been given a great opportunity here. Joining the Task Force is a great honor, learning from Horace is an even greater one. If you don't want to join us, if you don't want to be great, just say so. We'll stop training you and send you back to Redmont and the Battle School.  
"You were going to do that anyway," it was more of a statement than an actual question. Johnny knew that the Ranger would not have just forgotten about him bullying Angie. Johnny was smart enough to know that all of these people would side with Angie before him, and at a word from her he would be outcast.  
"No," Will shook his head. "If something happened we were going to discuss what to do. If Angie had been out of line she would have ended her training. If you were out of line, you would have been sent back to Redmont. We are fair."  
"Right," Johnny dropped his broken practice sword on the ground. "You'd side with her and not even listen to me."  
"You know me and Horace use to hate each other," that took the battle school apprentice by surprise.  
"So," he spoke guardedly, uncertain of where this was going.  
"We grew up together in the Ward at Castle Redmont, he bullied me our whole childhood."  
That sounded a lot like the relationship between Johnny and Angie. Johnny did not miss that, but he was also smart enough to see that the Ranger was lying. The king of Araluen did not grow up a commoner in the ward at Redmont. What kind of king would he be if he did?  
"Then one day, I saved his life."  
"If he bullied you, why save him?"  
"He was trying to save mine," the Ranger smiled. "We were on a boar hunt, there was a second pig, none of us knew about and it charged after the circle broke up once we killed the first boar. It was coming right for me, Horace, a first year battle school apprentice rushed forward to save me."  
"But you saved him," Johnny pointed out, thinking that he had caught the Ranger in is lie.  
Will nodded. "Horace dropped his spear, the boar charged him. I shot it with an arrow, distracting it and drawing it away from him."  
"Then who killed it?"  
"My mentor, Ranger Halt."  
Johnny felt very small. He had heard the tales of the Ranger Halt, there were hundreds of them portraying him as a giant among men, a hero a hundred times over. He had trained Will Treaty, and this Ranger was Will Treaty. Essentially, Johnny was calling the Will Treaty a liar. So he felt small _and_ stupid.  
"Since then, Horace and I have been best friends. We've gone on many quests, fought many foes and overcome great obstacles."  
"Is there a point to this," Johnny asked, waiting for the proverbial end to this story. He knew it was there, adults never just told stories, there was always a lesson to be learned.  
"Your past does not define you, Jonathan Pritchard. You can do anything with your talents, you can do great things. But if you insist on staying in the past, on trying to place yourself above everyone around you, you will be nothing."  
The Ranger held Johnny's gaze for a long time. He said nothing and Johnny could not find any words to say to him. That had been what he was expecting the Ranger to say, some proverb about the future, but it was still unsettling.  
All his life, people had told Johnny about his parents. How they were great people, well respected, liked, sought after for counsel from their peers. They had been amazing people, so Johnny had to be just as amazing. He was talented and likeable, but not the favored one.  
He had been in Angie's shadow when he first arrived at the Ward. She had always been there, she had been so bright and bubbly, people just liked her and she had never tried. He had not like that, even at four Johnny had know that he did not like that. So he had pushed Angie down, making up stories about her and making sure no one liked her.  
It was like the Ranger knew all of that. Like, he had known that Johnny was purposely trying to be better than Angie at everything, and had destroyed her in order to do it. The Ranger probably had known, he had no doubt see that when he was in the castle. Johnny could remember seeing the Ranger on a regular basis in the castle while he lived in the ward.  
And now Will was saying that none of that mattered. Will was saying that they would all forget that and allow him to move forward. They were not going to judge him.  
He could do that. He could stop, if he really tried.  
Sadly, old habits die hard.


	13. Chapter 12

She was certain there was more to the trip to Skandia than a new Oberjarl. The fact that Maddie just completely ignored the topic made Angie even more positive that there was something else going on. And like Maddie, the other people who would know were decidedly not hearing her questions on the subject. Will would just continue with what he had been saying, Horace on the other hand panicked and started rambling before changing the subject entirely.  
Which was how Angie ended up listening to him describe the Battle for Hallasholm in great detail, starting from the training of the slaves in rudimentary archery, three times. Angie felt like she had actually been in the battle by the time Horace finished his third rendition; in which he had single handedly commanded the archers and fought alongside the Oberjarl at the time and would have saved the Skandian leader's life if Will had not needed his help. The story became more farfetched with every retelling, and sadly any Skandians nearby added more extravagantly outlandish details wherever possible.  
All she wanted was to know why they had really come to Skandia. And it seemed like that was the one question Will did not like. Generally speaking Will was enthusiastic when Angie dared to ask a question, but he was becoming agitated about the one question that was really plaguing her. In retrospect that was probably why he sent her away instead of watching her practice her sling or archery.  
Not that Angie minded. If Will gave her time off, that was just less time she had to spend with Johnny. He had been acting a little nicer, but Angie knew it was only a ruse. Bullies never just suddenly stopped being a bully. He was just acting nice so he could stay on the Task Force thing and torment her for the rest of her life. In short, Angie was not buying the nice guy bit he was trying.  
She was sitting on the edge of the green after the sudden dismissal from Will, she had asked a few too many of what he called, "pointless questions". Angie had believed they were good questions but Will had sent her away, saying he needed to talk to Maddie and Horace about something. Of course at the time she had not realized that that would mean Johnny would be running around Hallasholm freely as well.  
She was rather enjoying the summer day on the green, watching the locals go about their day when the shadow fell across her lap. She recognized it instantly.  
"Shouldn't you be doing something Ranger-like," Johnny curled his lip looking down at her, she could hear the facial expression in his voice.  
"Shouldn't go be practicing whacking and bashing," she retorted, refusing to look back at him. "Or have you already mastered the finer aspects of poking things with a stick," her eyes flicked to the shadow of the practice sword he held at his side. Horace had taken Johnny's actual sword away after the fool-hearty apprentice taunted drunken seawolves and challenged them to shows of strength, in which he was almost killed.  
Johnny's hand tightened around the hilt of the practice weapon, "you're just jealous because your master pawned you off as soon as we got here. Even he's grown tired of you."  
Old words, yet they still stung. Will had been sending her off with Maddie, Horace and a select few of the jarls, he had barely spent any time watching her since their arrival, and he had sent her away that day. Was Johnny right? Was Will tired of her, done trying to teach someone who could not focus?  
No, she nearly shouted at herself. Will would not do that to her, he had been patient with her. He was putting so much time and energy into her training; he would not just give up because she had finally started asking questions. Johnny was just trying to hurt her again, but she knew better.  
"Will would never do that," she said quietly, her hand unconsciously reaching for the saxe knife on at her waist. "He said he chose me as his apprentice because I have potential and he's going to train me to be a Ranger."  
"That daft old knight said he was going to train me," Johnny's knuckles were white he held the hilt of the practice sword so tightly. "And as soon as you got scared they decided to pick someone else."  
"Obviously not since you're here," Angie snapped leaping to her feet. There was a half a meter difference between their heights, but Angie stared him down anyway. "How'd you convince them anyway?"  
"You're the only one who ever seems to have a problem," Johnny seethed glaring at the apprentice Ranger. "Everyone else loves me. They think I walk on water."  
"Except for Horace," Angie could see she had struck something there. Horace had not doted over him, which was something that the instructors as the Battle School had done. Horace had treated him like any other apprentice, or worse since he also set Will on him. "And the Ranger's, they've seen you for what you really are."  
"And what's that," Johnny bent down so he was nose to nose with the Ranger apprentice. He was not use to Angie talking back, much less defending herself. He was not sure how much longer he would be able to continue the banter, which he had not intended to start. But now that it was underway, there was no way Johnny was going to lose.  
Bully was just not a good enough answer for Angie. There was so much more to Johnny that the run of the mill bully. Or maybe not, but Angie was simply not content with a simple answer. "A sad, pathetic little boy who got pleasure from causing a little orphan girl pain; an egotistical want-to-be knight who isn't even allowed to carry his weapon because he never learned to use it properly; you are the lowest form of person, picking on the weak. And they all know it, Will, Maddie, Horace, even the jarls!"  
She had not realized it, but at some point in her tirade Angie had started shouting. Not only that, but her saxe and miraculously found its way into her left hand and was dangerously close to cutting into Johnny's wooden practice weapon. Johnny was still glaring, but he had backed off several paces. Angie had no doubts that she had been waving the blade while she shouted, but that was not on the list of things she was concerned about.  
One thing she was worried about was the fact that she had just caused a scene in the middle of Hallasholm. Some small voice in the back of her head was screaming that Will was going to be furious when he learned about it. And even though it had felt amazing to be able to just yell at Johnny like that, she knew she had just messed up.  
Around her, Angie could sense the people stopping to watch the fight. It was seconds away from becoming physical and Angie could not back down. A little voice similar to the one screaming about punishment from Will was goading her to continue. She was already in trouble, she might as well finish strong.  
What would Johnny say to her accusations, what malice filled barb would he throw back at her?  
"At least I'm not a freak," he said in a hoarse whisper. "I don't use the wrong hand, I'm liked. My parents wanted me, they gave me a name, and they made sure I would always know who I am. You don't have anything, and only the mysterious Rangers want anything to do with you!" His eyes burned with rage, his arm shook from the strain of trying to shatter the practice sword with his hand. "I have a name," he shouted before turning a storming away, "I have a future!"  
Angie had thought she had heard it all. She had thought Johnny and his pack had run out of taunts and hurtful expressions. She had believed she had heard it all and knew how to let it go. But that last statement, it hurt a lot more than she had expected or believed possible.  
Her heart jumped into her throat and stopped, her hands went numb, her saxe fell, sticking in the ground, and Angie collapsed on the ground. She stared up at the sky, trying to breath, but the air was just not coming, she was not getting enough; she could not breathe. And she could not stop the tears that rolled down her face. Angie rolled into the fetal position, and gasping for calming breath, cried silently.  
He was right. Johnny was always right. She had no family, she had no past. And what hope did she really have as a Ranger? She would never learn all the things Will was trying to teach her. She would never be able to do all that amazing stuff like Will. She was just Angie, the easily distracted, left handed freak of an orphan who did not have a family name.  
It hurt, those words; the blatant delivery, the obvious meaning. Angie had really thought that she had put all of that behind her. Will had told her that he had come from the Ward, that he grew up without a family name. But there was something different about him and her. He was Will Treaty, the hero of Araluen. She was just Angie, the orphan from Redmont.  
She had no idea how long she lay in the green, at some point the tears had stopped. But the hurt just throbbed continuously, like her heart was trying to break out of her chest. She did not move, she just lay there, eyes wide open looking at the world around her and seeing nothing. They left her alone, and she wished they had not. The longer she lay there the more she thought and the more she realized how right Johnny had been.  
When Will found her she was still curled up on the green. Her saxe was still stuck in the ground, her cloak was curled around her and her hand was tightly clasped around her twin oakleaf necklace. He stood at the edge of the green watching her for several minutes, waiting on her to make a move. He had not known how long she had been there, he still had not heard about what happened between the two apprentices. All Will knew was that Angie had missed both lunch and the evening meal.  
As he watched her he noticed that her breathing was irregular, like she was short of breath after a long run. Her eyes stared off in the distance, looking right past him. He rushed to her side, something was obviously wrong.  
"Angie," he knelt beside her, his hand reaching out for her as he looked for some sort of injury. What had happened to her to cause this? Had she been attacked? Was this internal?  
No, he forced himself to take a deep breath. No one would attack her in the middle of Hallasholm, they were there peacefully, invited by the senior jarls. There was no bruising on her body, she had not been hit by anything. But could she be bleeding internally, would that cause bruising anywhere?  
He forced himself to take another deep breath. Panicking was not going to help Angie.  
He touched her shoulder gently. Angie flinched, her eyes widened further and she jerked her head up to look at his face. Her eyes were dilated, all he could see of her irises was a thin ring, the rest was black. Angie's grip on her necklace tightened, her knuckles whitening as she propped herself up and buried her face in Will's chest.  
At first Will was too shocked to do anything. He looked down at the girl holding him tightly with one arm trying to figure out what had happened. Then he realized that was not important at the moment. Whatever had happened to Angie had broken her, she needed comfort.  
He wrapped his arms around the girl, gathering her closer to him and rocked her gently. Angie's breathing was ragged as she lay her head on his shoulder, her eyes staring blankly ahead of her. Will stroked her hair as he spoke to her softly, trying to calm her enough to learn what had happened. But she would not answer, she just shook her head and rocked a little more urgently in his arms.  
Will was still holding her when Horace and Maddie came to find them. They stood at the edge of the green looking in, wondering what had happened. Will had nothing to offer them, he was still confused about what had happened.  
Maddie approached them first, smiled and talked gently to Angie. With some coaxing Will and Maddie managed to get Angie on her feet. Her breathing had finally settled, which had greatly reduced Will's own stress level, but she still stared vacantly and would not speak. As they guided her back to her room in the Oberjarl's Palace Horace walked back to retrieve her saxe.  
There was something on the ground near where Angie had been. Horace walked over to see what had been left on the green. His brow furrowed as he bent down to pick up the item, a practice wooden sword. In particular the one the Johnny had received from one of the senior jarls after Will had sliced his original one to pieces.  
Horace looked back at Will and Maddie leading the distraught apprentice through the empty street. He had a sinking suspicion about what had happened. He hoped he was wrong, he had really like Johnny. But Gilan would never allow someone like the boy on the Task Force, and the Ranger Corps would not appreciate the bully of their child being part of their ranks.  
"I hope I'm wrong," Horace muttered following after the Rangers. "I really hope I'm wrong."


	14. Chapter 13

Maddie settled Angie into her bed and sat beside the girl until she fell asleep. It took longer than she had expected, but finally Angie rolled onto her side and her breathing evened out. Will was waiting out in the hall, pacing and muttering to himself.  
"How is she?" he asked as the door was pulled shut, leaving the apprentice to sleep.  
"She's sleeping," Maddie offered her former mentor and uncle a wan smile. "I think she'll be fine now."  
"Did she say anything?" he asked, looking past Maddie at the door. He should be in there, watching over her, ready to sooth her if she woke with nightmares; like he had with Maddie during her first year as an apprentice.  
What had happened to her? He had so many questions, questions only Angie would be able to answer. He wanted those answers. He wanted to make someone pay for what they had done to her.  
Maddie shook her head gently drawing Will from the door. "She's asleep, Uncle Will," she used the title to draw Will's attention; it was rare that she called him her uncle anymore. Will turned his worry stricken eyes from Angie's door to his former apprentice. "Waking her up to ask a bunch of questions won't help."  
"I still think," Will started, but Maddie cut him off.  
"She's fine, you took good care of her. You always take good care of your apprentices," she smiled at him trying to guide him from Angie's room. "Now let's go get some coffee."  
Will nodded, giving the door one last look before walking down the hall. They had settled at the table in the room Will was sharing with Horace and Johnny when Horace entered carrying a heavy wooden practice sword.  
Horace dropped the wooden sword on the table between Will and Maddie. The boy was still out and Horace was glad. He did not want the boy there just yet.  
Will looked down at the practice weapon momentarily then up to Horace. "Are you wanting to practice something?"  
"I found this on the green," Horace locked eyes with Will. "Does it look familiar?"  
"Looks like the one Johnny's been using," Maddie picked the weapon up, holding in comfortably in her hands, Gilan had taught her swordsmanship upon her return to Castle Araluen after her graduation. "Maybe they had been practicing and he just left it there."  
"Or maybe he was taunting someone and left the weapon behind." Will shook his head setting his coffee aside. It seemed like a reasonable course of action for the boy. It had been a few days since that first training session and Johnny was still acting exactly the same.  
"Why would he just leave it behind?" Horace had a valid question.  
Taunting someone was not a reason to leave the practice sword behind. Horace would know. He had done plenty of taunting growing up. But if they had been practicing and Johnny left to do something where the weapon would be a hindrance, then he could have asked Angie to take the weapon back to the palace. So the boy either had nothing to do with Angie or everything to do with it.  
"You don't think something happened to him do you?" Maddie set the wooden sword on the table. Thinking back they had not seen Johnny since that morning when the two apprentices were released for a free day. Perhaps he was somewhere in Hallasholm in a condition similar to how they had found Angie.  
Or worse, someone had over powered Johnny and Angie, left the girl and took the boy from Hallasholm completely. If that was the case he could be anywhere, there was no way to determine how many ships had sailed into and out of the capital that day. No one would even really know where the ships were going either, skirls and jarls rarely revealed their destinations.  
"We know not everyone wants us here," Will crossed his arms looking down at the table. "And all that talk of a coup is no joking matter."  
"There has been inner strife ever since Erak was elected Oberjarl, so many objected," Horace sank into his chair.  
"And it's coming to a head," Maddie guessed. She knew Will and her father had an alternative reason for coming to Skandia, but they had not discussed it since they were trying to shelter the apprentices. Maddie knew she would learn about it when the time was right. "That's why we came?"  
"Gilan received word from some of the archers stationed here, the fighting is the worst it has ever been," Horace sighed. "Cassandra and I decided it would be best to send someone to check things out."  
"And the election of a new Oberjarl seemed like the perfect opportunity," Will added stroking his beard in thought. "But I never thought the rebels would attack children," he shook his head in exasperation. "What harm could they possible cause? They don't even know about the possible rebellion."  
"We weren't exactly harmless as apprentices," Maddie nodded her agreement to the knight's statement.  
"And it wasn't like you two knew what you were walking into every time," she added.  
"We never knew what we were walking into, and we never just walked into it, we were usually thrown in head first," Horace sighed with a shake of his head.  
"But we still caused problems," Will murmured just loud enough to be heard. "We caused a lot of problems."  
Horace ran his fingers through his hair. "Perhaps they think taking them out will deter us from intervening."  
"Well they're wrong," Will said grimly standing up.  
The rebels were not going to get away with this attack on Angie and Johnny, if that was what happened. Will was going to find the boy, or track down the people responsible for his disappearance.  
Will crossed the room for the door and threw it open. Horace and Maddie both watched waiting for him to throw over his shoulder that he would be back soon. They never heard it. Before he was even fully out the door the grim faced Ranger returned, hauling the battle school apprentice in by his upper arm.  
"Well, he's not missing or injured," Maddie mouthed to her father as they came to their feet.  
"I wish he was," Horace muttered back as Will drug the boy over to them.  
Johnny was deposited in a chair at the table, the Rangers and the knight glaring down at him. He had a bad feeling that they knew about what had happened in the green. He had actually been expecting them to track him down sooner, but he was glad they had waited; he had worked out his excuses.  
"I didn't mean it," he started. He figured that starting out with remorse would earn him more time to talk to them. "Things just kind of spiraled out of control, and I couldn't stop myself."  
"Where have you been," Maddie asked in what Johnny determined was the tone of an angry mother.  
"I was just out in the town," he said hesitantly, completely uncertain about what was happening.  
"Doing what," Johnny shrank under the angry tone of the woman Ranger.  
"I was talking to some of the seawolves out by the docks," he answered hesitantly trying to determine what this had to do with his argument, and hurtful comments, he had shared with Angie.  
"Did you leave the city," Will asked with his arms crossed over his chest. For a short man he was intimidating.  
"No," Johnny shook his head quickly. "I was at the dock with this guy named Stig, he was explaining the triangular sail plan on that tiny wolfship to me."  
All three of the adults relaxed visibly. Johnny looked between the three of them carefully. Did they not know what he had done, or where they waiting on him to confess? He had already sort of confessed and they had ignored it. Something else must have happened.  
"Is everything okay," he looked to Horace, who seemed to like him better than the Rangers.  
"Yes," Will answered. Johnny turned his attention to the Ranger, who had somehow managed to get a wooden practice sword. "Now, would you care to explain why we found this in the green?"  
There it was, the accusations were about to begin. Johnny had not realized until later that he had left the practice sword behind; it looked bad that he had just left it. And Angie had no doubt already spun some lie about him goading her into a fight. Now should he tell the truth and beg for mercy or lie?  
Lying was always a good option.  
"I don't know," he looked straight into the Ranger's eye. "I haven't been in the green since our training session this morning before breakfast."  
"Would you like to rephrase that," Maddie crossed her arms looking down at Johnny. "Like, perhaps involving the fifth member of our group in some way?"  
"I haven't seen her," he could not bring himself to look Maddie in the eye with that lie. "Not since this morning at breakfast."  
"Fine," she turned from him and crossed the room.  
As soon as Maddie was gone, Johnny really wished she had stayed. She was not exactly nice to him, but she was more likely to go easy on him. Johnny knew Horace and Will would be completely unfair in punishments. He looked between the two of them waiting for his sentencing.  
"We don't appreciate being lied to," Will tapped the practice sword on the table. "I've never like liars, they always give me no end of trouble. Wouldn't you agree Horace?"  
The old knight nodded, "And it's always such a hassle to deal with them; they always insist that they're being truthful."  
They knew, Johnny knew now, they knew and were waiting on a confession. He had already lied, it would be idiotic to change his story, they would never trust him again. Not that they really trusted him to begin with. No, he had to stick with the original story.  
"I haven't done anything," he forced himself to look both of them in the eye in turn. "I haven't seen Angie since this morning at breakfast."  
"Then what did you not mean to do?"  
Johnny stopped with his next comment caught in his throat. They had heard him, they had just ignored it before. "What?"  
"The thing that just happened and spiraled out of control," Horace offered looking down his nose at Johnny  
"When you just couldn't stop yourself," Will finished his eyes steeled.  
Johnny looked between the two of them. He was cornered, they knew he had done something and he did not have a good story that did not in any way involve Angie. Think quick, the chided himself, his mouth gaping like a fish.  
"Well," they asked together.  
He had nothing, no lie, no excuse. Not even a heart-felt apology to offer. But he had to say something. Preferably something that would not result in undue punishment from the Ranger and knight.  
"I," he began still looking between the two of them, silently begging one of them to show compassion toward him. "I was," he tried again, the words stumbling though his mind.  
"Will, Horace," the door flew open suddenly, Maddie ran in gasping for breath. "Angie's gone!"


	15. Chapter 14

The wind off the mountain was unbearable. Angie could hardly maintain her seat on Starburst and her teeth were chattering uncontrollably. She would never be able to survive in the mountains, but where else could she go?  
The palace opened on the back side to the forest and up the mountainside. If she wanted to get out unobserved that was the way to do it. And she had to get away unnoticed.  
Johnny's words were still ringing in her ears. She had lain in the dimly lit room with his taunts echoing around her. Once Maddie had left her alone Angie decided to leave. She was a burden on Will, she was horrible at being a Ranger. If she vanished in Skandia he would go back to Redmont and find a new apprentice, one who deserved the opportunity.  
So she left, Tug had watched her go, sadness filled his large brown eyes. She had forced a smile at the shaggy little horse as she led Starburst from the stable, telling him it was for the best. Tug and Bumper had whinnied after her, trying to draw her back, but Angie had already made up her mind.  
Starburst was handling the wind better than Angie, but barely. He walked straight into it, so they were constantly changing course as they climbed the mountain. She lowered herself over his neck, burying her face in his coat. Skandia was awfully cold for summer, she was not dressed for this.  
"Maybe I made a mistake," she thought aloud as Starburst changed direction once again in his attempt to climb the mountain. "We could skirt around Hallasholm and make for Gallica. I bet we could survive there."  
Starburst snorted. I could survive anywhere, he seemed to say. Angie smiled at him.  
"Then it's a good thing I have you around," she rubbed his neck roughly.  
Why do you think they gave me to you?  
"You're right, they were very smart for that," Starburst nodded his head. Angie sat back in the saddle taking the reins in her hand. "I can't stand this mountain climbing," Starburst snorted as she directed him at an angle on the slope to skirt around Hallasholm, hopefully heading south for Gallica.  
Angie rode on in almost silence for what felt like hours, the soft moaning of the wind was just starting to set her teeth on edge when she saw the lights of the Hallasholm appear on her right. She pulled Starburst to a halt and looked down on the town, this was the right decision. She did not belong with the Rangers, she did not belong on the Task Force.  
"Say good bye boy," she stroked his mane and neck gently as they looked down on the lights of the Skandian capital. "We won't be seeing any of them ever again."  
Starburst turned to look at her with his large brown eye. I wouldn't be so sure, he seemed to be saying.  
"Don't try playing tricks on me," Angie scolded the horse as she dismounted.  
Something in the tone of her horse's comment had made her nervous about pursuit. Will would come after her, Maddie and Horace would too, and Starburst would leave a very noticeable trail in the soft earth. Starburst nickered bobbing his head, commanding Angie to remount. Angie smiled rubbing her companion between the ears.  
"I can't ride you, they'll find us."  
Good. This is a dumb idea.  
"It is not," she responded slightly taken aback that her horse had insulted her. "I'm going to walk a while, and you're going to walk awhile up the mountain again." Starburst shook his head urgently. "Yes you are. And you're going to stomp those little hooves in the ground so Will thinks I'm still riding you."  
What on earth for? The little horse shook his head again.  
"I'll never get away if they know I'm not with you," she tried to explain loosening the girth on Starburst's saddle.  
I'm not letting you go off alone, the little horse rebuked quickly. You'd never make it without me!  
"I am trained as a Ranger," she defended herself against the horse's accusation.  
Partially, Starburst's brown eyes stared into Angie's. She was under the impression that if he could have, the horse would have mimicked Will's raised brow look.  
"It's just for a little while," she promised stroking his muzzle gently. "Once Will and the other's find you, you can come looking for me."  
Wouldn't that lead them to you, he seemed to ask.  
Angie sighed, the horse had a point. But she would never get away riding him. The ground was uneven and dangerous and soon it was going to get dark out and eventually Will would be out looking for her. She had to send the horse in the opposite direction to by some time, hopefully enough time to make it to Gallica.  
"You'll just have to give them the slip and find me," she forced a smile and buried her face in the horse's coat. "I'll be heading south for Gallica, you should be able to find me. You're smart."  
I already knew that, he snorted backing away from Angie.  
Angie dug what she thought she would need from her saddle bags; the shots for the sling, her medical kit, and the rations she had taken from the kitchens. She lifted the bow from her saddle and held it in her hand, running her thumb along the side. It would be a good thing to have, she had better accuracy with the bow and she could reuse the arrows. The shots for her sling would have to be melted down after each use, if she could even find them. But the bow was too short to throw over her shoulder. She would have to carry it in her hand, making it more of an inconvenience than a benefit. She put the bow back on the saddle with a sigh.  
"Now get going," she signaled her directions to the horse and sent him on his way.  
She waited until she could no longer see Starburst before she turned and started off on her own. She kept the lights of Hallasholm on her right until they vanished behind her. Once thrown into complete darkness Angie had to stop, there was no moon to illuminate her path that night.  
Good, she thought, it will be hard for Will to track Starburst and see that they had separated.  
She found a large tree, whose thick green needled braches swept the forest floor and crawled in. Once inside she found the tree spacious, she could have easily brought Starburst in and they could have spent one last night together. She sighed thinking about it, she had told the horse they would meet again but Angie doubted Will would just let the little horse go. She was truly alone once again.  
And it saddened her.  
She sat against the trunk of the tree and slept lightly. She could still hear everything around her and each time something seemed out of place she jerked awake, waiting for Will or Maddie to enter her hiding place. Near dawn she decided to set off.  
Angie crawled out of the shelter of the tree in the predawn grey. Someone had come through during the night. Several sets of tracks passed by her hiding place, studying them she could see the prints for four different horses. The tracks were heading away from Hallasholm and Angie decided not to chance her luck.  
"They didn't find me," she sighed looking down at the tracks, knowing that it had not been Will and the others. "And they're not going to." She headed straight down the mountain away from the tracks and hopefully their owners.  
As she moved farther south she wished she had retained more of that information about traveling by foot through the woods. She knew enough to survive and get a compass point direction. But there was a lot more that she would have been happy to know, like not leaving tracks in the soft Skandian soil.  
How to regulate traveling on foot, so she could cover the distance between Hallasholm and Gallica without wasting energy; that would have been a good thing to know as well. She knew the standard march or whatever it was called for horseback, they had done that as they crossed Araluen to sail to Skandia. Was there even a regulated travel pattern for Rangers on foot?  
No, since they would have their horse. Not that it mattered because she was not a Ranger. That was why she left. She had to stop thinking of herself as a Ranger.  
By the time the sun had fully risen Angie had found her way to the coast and was moving through the tree line toward Gallica. She saw a few people on the road along the beach, mainly women and children, wolfships cruised the coast, all of them were heading to Hallasholm. She alternated between walking and running as she moved south, by noon she thought she had to be close to the border and stopped for a rest.  
Still trying to avoid being found, and very aware that on horseback she could still be overtaken, Angie climbed up a tree for her rest so she could see any pursuit before it reached her. She straddled the thick branch and looked down over the road. That was when the Skandians came into view.  
The fact that Skadian's were on the road was not the reason Angie noticed them. The reason she was so intrigued was that they pulled a wolfship up on the beach and came ashore. They had four short purple clad men with them.  
"Are you sure this is the best place to do this?" one of the Skadians asked looking up and down the road.  
"I sent Ivan and Kale along the coast to stop traffic. No one should be bothering us for a few hours." A large man with a wild mane of blond hair answered looking down the road in both directions.  
"Why have you brought us here?" the shortest of the purple clad men demanded. He had a strange accent that Angie could not place, not that she was one to recognize and determine the origin of any accent.  
"You know why," the blond Skandian turned on the short man.  
"Yes, but why here?" the short man motioned to the forest around them, a look of displeasure twisting his face.  
Angie leaned forward over her branch wanting to hear what the Skandian would say. He must be up to no good if he beached a wolfship so close to Hallasholm.  
"We don't want a lot of people knowing you're here," the blond responded. "And we can't be connected to you."  
"That I understand," the purple clad man replied. "But you could have sailed us to Hallasholm."  
"No one would have been the wiser," one of his friends added scowling at the Skandians.  
"We can talk out here and then sail in," another of the Skandian seawolves stepped forward. He was smaller than the other Skandians with neatly groomed hair giving Angie doubts that he could be a native of the wild mountainous country. "Are you opposed to that, signore?"  
The four small men exchanged looks then turned back to the small Skandian.  
"We can talk here," the smallest of them spoke.  
"But no more change in plans," a third spoke.  
"Or the deal is off," the final member of the small foreigners crossed his arms looking up at the Skandians.  
The neatly groomed Skandian nodded, "as you say. Now, the new Oberjarl will be chosen by the end of the week."  
"So you say," the group of four spoke at once.  
"We know the senior jarls will choose half-Araluen Hal as the next Oberjarl."  
"You disapprove of this choice?" one of the purple clad men spoke.  
"Greatly," the Skandian responded. "Hal is not a full blooded Skandian, he is not fit to be a jarl let alone the Oberjarl."  
"This we understand," one of the men in purple spoke.  
"We can dispose of this Hal."  
"Will be easy."  
"For a price," the smallest finished.  
"Good," one of the mountainous Skandians crossed his arms over his bare chest. "That is why we called upon you Genovesans."  
"Of course," the smallest of the Genovesans bowed, removing his wide brimmed hat.  
They spoke for a few more minutes, discussing prices through the use of Silisian Council then the group returned to the wolfship and set off up the coast toward Hallasholm.  
Angie dropped out of the tree and ran to the coast, watching the wolfship. She was not a Ranger anymore, but she had met Hal. He was nice and, in Angie's opinion, would be great as Oberjarl. Some people obviously disagreed.  
She looked back up the road, back to Hallasholm. If she took the road she could be back in no time. Part of what took so long to get this far had been that she was running around in circles, weaving the trees and back tracking in an attempt to confuse pursuers. An all out run would have her Hallasholm before dark. Maybe.  
And her leaving would be gone in the same amount of time. Telling the jarls about this would be the end of it. She had snuck out while Will had not been expecting it and she could not hope to do it again. And the whole city would probably be turned upside down trying to find the odd men in the purple clothing with ridiculous hats. She would be pulled into some kind of job since that was what Rangers did, they became involved.  
But she had to do something.  
"I'm going to regret this," she sighed running back up to the road.


	16. Chapter 15

Will had to give Angie credit. The horse was more than half way up the mountain stomping around to make it look like she was riding him. It was only a few hours after dawn, since there had been no sign of a place where they had stayed the night, Will could only assume that she had sent the horse away the night before. Will was surprised she had even thought to do that. She seemed so unfocused that he doubted how much she actually knew. He was going to have to be more careful in the future, this girl was more ingenuitive than he had originally thought.  
"Why is her horse stomping around up here without her?" Johnny snapped watching the horse stomp a few more steps in a circle. How long had the horse been up there stomping around without a rider? Why would it even do that?  
"It's a trick the Ranger horses are taught," Will explained whistling to get Starburst's attention. The little pony stopped with one hoof up in the air to look back at Will and Johnny. The horse snorted shaking his head as he came to stand next to Tug, "To fool pursers."  
"It works," Johnny muttered drily looking back down the mountain imagining the warm fires of Hallasholm.  
He had not wanted to come on this adventure up the mountain. He had wanted to stay in Hallasholm. If Angie was gone they would never learn the truth of what had happened between him and Angie. He determined that Anige had never told them about the argument, so they did not know about the verbal bullying that had basically rendered the girl senseless. And Johnny found himself able to live with that. But instead he was climbing a mountain looking for her because the Ranger horses, for some crazy reason, were trained to fool people trying to track them.  
"Can we go back down now?" Johnny asked while Will checked Angie's horse over. For what, Johnny could not begin to guess.  
"Yes," Will swung up in Tug's saddle and signaled for Starburst to follow. "We'll have to find where they separated and follow her trail."  
"Then we're not going back to Hallasholm?" he asked already knowing the answer. The Rangers and Horace were determined to find Angie, even though she apparently did not want to be found.  
"We have to find her, make sure she's not hurt." Will turned Tug to go back the way they had come.  
Johnny had a comeback, but he decided not to speak. He had so far managed not to anger the Rangers and Horace, but he imagined it was a close thing. So he followed the Ranger and the spare Ranger horse back down the mountain.  
They were close to a quarter of the way back down when Starburst stopped suddenly and whinnied looking off toward the south. Will drew Tug back looking to Angie's horse and where he was trying to direct them. Then Will looked at the ground. Johnny could not see anything, but the Ranger did.  
Will swung from the saddle and knelt by Starburst, his fingers tracing something on the ground. "She came through here."  
"How can you tell?" Johnny leaned over in his saddle to see what Will was looking at. As far as Johnny could tell, there was nothing special about the spot. "It looks like everything else."  
"Her steps are light," Will traced a small footprint out for Johnny to see. "And she's trained in the art of unseen movement, mostly," he added as an afterthought. "She came through her last night."  
Johnny shrugged accepting the information. He knew nothing about tracking and only saw the print because the Ranger had pointed it out to him. This was what Rangers were supposed to do, so Johnny prepared himself to follow where the half visible tracks would lead him.  
The tracks led to a giant tree, Will disappeared into it and came back shortly after.  
"She hid here during the night, probably form the hunters who came through." Will remounted guiding Tug around the tree to where her tracks emerged on the other side. "She has almost half a day's lead on us, if she stayed here during the night," the Ranger looked up at the sky calculating the time.  
"So we should be able to catch her?" Johnny ventured. "I mean we are on horseback and she running up a mountain on foot."  
"I don't believe she'd being running up the mountain. The general direction of her trail is heading back down to level ground."  
"But we've still got the horses," Johnny prompted. "That should give us some advantage, right?"  
"It's easier to navigate the mountains on foot," Will responded. Then he added: "Unless you have horses trained for that." Will was stroking his beard in thought looking down at the trail Angie had left.  
"And we don't have those," Johnny feigned regret, thinking he was finally going to get to return to Hallasholm. Half a day of this tracking stuff was more than enough for him.  
"I do." Johnny's hopes were cut short. "Tug's trained for that since I'm part of the Task Force, we've seen more mountains than I care to count."  
"So now what," Johnny knew he could not ride the Ranger's horse while the Ranger rode it, and he did not want to try Angie's horse after it bucked him at the cabin in Redmont. They were either going to give up or try to catch her with Johnny riding his leggy battle horse. He really hoped they would give up, his battle horse was not good for this mountain and Will had insisted that Johnny stay with him.  
"I'm going to keep tracking her. I should be able to catch her before dark. I want you to take Starburst back to Hallasholm and wait for Horace and Maddie to come back, tell them where I've gone."  
"Okay," he hid his excitement with a hesitant response.  
"I should be back tonight, unless something goes wrong." The Ranger tightened his grip on the reins as he prepared to leave.  
"Do you expect something to go wrong?" Johnny asked looking over at the Ranger carefully.  
Will looked at ease but his eyes betrayed him. Will's eyes spoke volumes about what he knew would happen, things that always seemed to happen to him when he went off alone or sent an apprentice off by themselves. The Ranger knew what could happen, but he had already made his choice. Johnny had to go back to Hallasholm to tell Horace and Maddie that Will had found Angie.  
"It always does," the grey bearded Ranger smiled at the battle school apprentice. "Don't worry, I've survived Skandia before, I can do it again."  
"But," what was he so concerned about?  
Johnny did not want to be out looking for Angie, he would have preferred being beaten to a pulp in a practice session with Horace. But something about that last statement from the Ranger made him want to stay. It made Johnny want to know what the Ranger had gone through, he wanted to be part of whatever was going to happen that day.  
The Ranger shook his head. "No, its best that you go back to tell Horace and Maddie so they don't worry anymore. The senior jarls too, they can call their search parties back."  
Johnny turned his battle horse away from the Ranger, still looking over his shoulder. He hated being sent away, he felt like he needed to be with Will while he traversed the Skandian countryside. Will smiled and signaled to Starburst, then clicked his tongue and rode off on Tug.  
Once the Ranger was gone Johnny pressed his heels to his horse's sides and started down the mountain. He was not any good at tracking and he was not going to chance trying to find his way back the way they had come. He was going to ride down until he found some type of trail then ride for Hallasholm.  
Starburst followed closely after him; occasionally whinnying and tossing his head toward the left. Johnny was certain the little horse was going to wander off on its own. Will had not told him to tie the horse and so far it had obeyed whatever command it had been given, but Johnny was still waiting.  
The going was slow. The battle horse balked at just about everything and would not even attempt going over fallen logs. Johnny felt most of the journey was them walking in circles to keep his horse from suffering a panic attack. Starburst trailed along behind, plodding after the huge battle horse and the battle school apprentice.  
Finally he came across a road.  
He started in the direction he hoped was Hallasholm with the horses at a walk. They had traveled about a kilometer when Starburst stopped and turned to face the opposite direction with a snort. Johnny pulled his horse to a stop and twisted around to see what the little Ranger horse was doing.  
At first he saw nothing. The road was completely deserted except for Johnny and the horses. He had just about given up on whatever the horse was trying to tell him when the horse whinnied, bobbing his head frantically.  
"What are you doing," Johnny walked his horse over to Starburst, meaning to take hold of the reins and guide the animal to Hallasholm. Just as he reached out to take hold of the reins something flashed through the undergrowth at the edge of the road. Johnny stopped looking for it again. He never saw anything, but something appeared on the road.  
Running down the track was a small figure in a mottled green cloak. Starburst neighed happily and stomped his feet, debating whether or not to run to the person coming toward them. When the runner saw the horses they quickened their pace and came to a staggering halt between the two horses, rubbing her mount's neck as she tightened the girth strap.  
"I'm glad you found him," Angie panted mounting her horse. "I don't think I could have run all the way to Hallasholm."  
"Then you shouldn't have sent him away," Johnny retorted, uncertain of how he felt about Angie being back. "And you shouldn't have run off like that. All three of them are freaking out about it."  
Angie rolled her eyes at him, "well I'm back now, so let's get back to Hallasholm. I have something important to tell Will." Angie spurred her horse into a gallop.  
"Will's not in Hallasholm," Johnny raced after Angie. "He's somewhere on the mountain looking for you!"  
Angie's horse made a tight circle and started back the way Angie had come, rushing past Johnny like the wind.  
"Where are you going?" Johnny turned his horse as well, struggling to maintain his seat. The large battle horse was horrible at turning like that, twice Johnny thought he would be on the ground before the turn was finished.  
"I have to find Will," Angie called over her shoulder disappearing around the bend.  
"He's somewhere on the mountain, you'll never find him," Johnny urged his horse to greater speeds trying to catch up to Angie and Starburst. They were losing distance faster than Johnny thought was possible. How could such a small animal run so quickly?  
"If he's looking for me, I know where he'll end up."  
"Wouldn't it just be easier to go to Hallasholm and tell Horace and Maddie?" he shouted just before Angie vanished around another bend in the road.  
Angie drew Starburst to a stop and waited for Johnny to come along side her. She glared at him from beneath the cowl of her mottled cloak, which had amazingly managed to stay up during her ride. She seemed unaffected by the ride, while Johnny was winded.  
"Are you sure they're going to be there when I arrive?" she asked.  
Johnny hesitated. He had no idea what Horace and Maddie were doing or when they would return to Hallasholm and the Oberjarl's Palace. But surely that would be better than racing up a mountain to find Will.  
"Are they in Hallasholm or not?" Angie demanded with a growl.  
"They're out looking too," Johnny gasped. As soon as he spoke, Angie touched her heels to Starburst's sides and raced off again. "But they'll be heading back, since they wouldn't have found anything," he shouted after her, but she was already too far away to hear him.  
"Why do I even bother?" Johnny turned his horse around once again and started off the direction he had been heading before.


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N In this chapter, while Angie is speaking Genovesan is misspelled. This is intentional, Angie does not pronounce the name correctly, therefore it is only incorrect as part of her speech pattern. I wanted to make that clear before everyone started commenting on the poor spelling in the chapter. Please enjoy.**

She had climbed a tree.  
Will had no idea why, but the girl had climbed a tree. He circled the tree several times trying to see if something had chased her up the tree, and found nothing. He could not even find where she had come down, there was just one set of prints leading to the tree.  
So where had she gone?  
Tug stood on the road watching as Will circled the tree, his head tilted to one side. Will was tuning the little horse's comments out. The last thing he needed was a distraction. He could only find one set of prints.  
He spread his search out farther. Perhaps she had leapt from the lower branches of the tree. Or she might have jumped to another tree and climbed down. She was avoiding detection from someone so she would be trying to make the trail vanish. And she had done a fantastic job, Will could not find anything.  
"I think we've lost her, Tug," he commented scratching his head and walking back to his horse.  
Tug snorted, stamping his foot.  
"What?" Will asked swinging up in the saddle. Again Tug snorted and stamped his hoof.  
_Look,_ Tug bent his head down to the ground. Will leaned over the saddle to see what the horse was so determined for him to look at. There were several prints in the road, a group of seven or eight had milled around where Tug was standing. And there was a set of small prints that appeared in the center of the circle and then followed the others off the road.  
"She jumped into the road," he mused twisting around in the saddle to see where the prints led. "And ran to the coast."  
Will guided Tug to the edge of the road, looking carefully to see if Angie had come back up or if she had boarded the ship that had been beached there. It took no time to find where Angie had come back to the road, and started heading north.  
"It seems she's going back to Hallasholm," Will looked down the road.  
This whole little adventure was turning out to be pointless. Whatever had caused Angie to leave was taking her back to Hallasholm. He was going to be expecting a good reason for all of this.  
"Let's go," Will turned Tug to start down the road.  
He set the pace at a steady lope, eating up the kilometers wondering what Angie had been doing out in the mountain. It made no sense for her to send Starburst away if she was going to run up and down the mountain and then back to Hallasholm. There was really no reason for her to have run off like she did.  
_Unless she found something,_ Tug commented. Will studied the horse carefully, Tug was a mind reader now. No wonder Will could never get the last word in with the shaggy little pony.  
"But what could she have found?" he asked scanning the trees around him. "And where are the people she was with?"  
_Who said she was with them?_ Tug asked silently.  
Will stared at the back of Tug's head. Will had just assumed Angie was with them, but Tug had a valid point. What if she was not with them? That would be the reason she climbed the tree. And if she feared pursuit or discovery she would have sent Starburst away.  
It was all coming together. Angie was following someone, probably someone in the rebellion the jarls feared. He needed to hurry, and find Angie. She was on foot somewhere in the Skandian countryside with hostile parties nearby.  
"Come on Tug, we have to find her," Tug sped to a canter with a touch from Will's heels.  
Tug suddenly let out a low rumble in his chest and nickered softly. A greeting to another Ranger horse, Will knew. Starburst came into full view over the next ridge, Angie leaning low over his neck with her cloak billowing out behind her. They were going at a full gallop down the road.  
Will reached for his bow, nocking an arrow in a single motion waiting for someone else to crest the ridge. She was being chased, that was the only reason she would be running Starburst that hard. But she continued at the same breakneck pace and no pursuit showed itself.  
Will furrowed his brow as Angie came in closer. She slowed when she came within twenty meters, bringing Starburst to a skidding halt in front of Tug. Will replaced his arrow as Angie reached down stroking Starburst's lathered neck trying to catch her breath.  
"Will, there's something bad," she started, still rubbing her horse's neck. "On the ship, they want to kill Hal."  
"What?" he shook his head, dismissing his own question. "What ship? Who wants to kill Hal?"  
"I was sitting in the tree and they beached a ship and then they stood in the road talking about Hal and how he couldn't be Oberjarl because he's half Araluen," She spoke quickly, her words only gasps away from become one giant muddled word. "Then the guy with the funny accent said he could take care of that and his friend said for a price and another said it would be easy and then they haggled prices and talked about the Arridi and some council of sissies."  
"Stop," Will interrupted her holding his hand up. "Take a deep breath," Angie inhaled deeply, held it and released it slowly. "Start from the beginning, slowly."  
"There's no time," she squealed wheeling Starburst around to take off again. "They're sailing for Hallasholm and they're going to kill Hal," her voice cracked as it rose in pitch. "Come on we have to go!"  
"Who?" Will asked, trying to keep Angie from racing off without a full explanation.  
"The Genevasens," she gasped, motioning for Will to come, they could talk later. "We have to go, they could be in Hallasholm by now!"  
She spurred Starburst straight to a gallop, not waiting to see if Will was following. Will had no choice but to follow, whatever she had seen it had frightened her. Could this be a continuation of what happened in the green in Hallasholm? There was a distinct possibility of that. Will urged Tug to follow after.  
It felt like no time before Angie came up on Johnny again. He and his battle horse were walking at a pace barely above a shuffle toward the city. Angie pulled up beside him to wait for Will, she could see the outer palisade of Hallasholm through the thinning pines around them.  
"You still haven't made it back?" she nearly shouted at the battle school student. "I left you like forever ago."  
"I'm almost there," Johnny retorted turning to see Will coming up behind them. "I see you found him."  
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't, now come on. People are in danger," Angie went to ride off again, but Will caught up and took a firm hold on her reins.  
"You need to tell me what's going on," he shot Johnny a look of disapproval, the boy should have been in Hallasholm already, telling Maddie and Horace that Angie was safe. "And you should have been in the city by now."  
"It's right there," Johnny motioned with a sweeping arm motion the looming wall they were approaching, the sun was just starting to touch the pine logs.  
"I told you that almost four hours ago," Will snapped. "If this had been an emergency," he started.  
"It wasn't," Johnny huffed quickly. "And if it's so important that we get there, why are we sitting in the middle of the road?"  
"Will, Hal's in danger," Angie squealed again looking between Will and the city. "The Genevasens will already be in the city."  
"The what?" Johnny and Will asked at the same time.  
"The Genevasens, they had the funny accents and said they could easily kill for the right price and no one would know that a wolfship brought them in and no one would know that the freaking short seawolf with a neatly trimmed beard and combed back hair had hired them with money from the sissy council once they go back to Arrida," her voice was shaking as she repeated everything to Will for a second time. "They want to kill Hal because he's only half Skandian and not fit to be a jarl much less Oberjarl and all the seawolves on the beached wolfship agreed and they got the Genevasens with the purple leather to kill him. We have to go save him."  
"They wore purple?" Will stared at her, hoping this was something Angie had just confused in her rapid retelling of what she had seen. She nodded still trying to urge Will toward Hallasholm. "Did they have matching cloaks and wide brimmed hats?" Angie nodded again.  
Will released Starburt's reins and laid his heels into Tug's sides. If Angie was speaking truthfully, and he knew she was, a group of Skandians had brought Genovesan Assassins to kill off the popular choice for Oberjarl before he could be elected. And if they had been on a wolfship Angie was right, they would already be in the city.  
"Will, what are we going to do?" Angie's panic seemed to have lessened now that Will was worried about the men on the wolfship. She was most likely just relieved that Will would be taking over, she was still just a first year apprentice.  
"We have to find Horace and Maddie," Will began.  
"And Hal?" Angie leaned over Starburst's neck she and Will raced for the wall.  
"And Hal," Will agreed. "Then we have to find the Genovesans and stop them."  
"Have you dealt with them before?"  
"Once, a long time ago," Will said darkly, remembering the fear he had felt in the drowned forest and the events afterward, when he thought Halt was going to die. He shook the memory away, he had to remain focused on the task at hand. "How many Genovesans are there?"  
"Four," she responded instantly. They rushed through the gates into Hallasholm, turning for the Oberjarl's Palace.  
"You're sure?"  
"I'm distracted, not incompetent," Angie narrowed her eyes at him. Did he really have such little faith her abilities?  
"I'm just making sure, the Genovesans are trained killers, I'll need to know their numbers for when we confront them."  
"What about the seawolves that brought them here?" Angie swung off of Starburst while the horse was still running through the gate the Oberjarl's Palace beside Will.  
"We'll have to deal with that later," Will grabbed a girl hurrying across the yard, "Are the other Araluens here?" The girl nodded quickly. "Where?"  
"The Big Hall, with the senior jarls," the girl squeaked. Will released her hurrying into the Palace. They climbed the steps two at a time and threw the great doors open.  
"What about Johnny?" Angie looked over her shoulder watching as the battle school student charged in on his horse.  
"Wait for him," Will rushed into the palace, running for the Big Hall. There might still be time, the Genovesans could still be trying to infiltrate the palace or, hopefully, they were stuck on the wolfship until night fall. There was a chance, Will would have to hope for that.


	18. Chapter 17

"Something's happened, I just know it," Horace paced the length of a table in the Big Hall, wringing his hands in front of him. "They should have been back hours ago. Will would have sent word." He was repeating his worries, the longer they were in the Big Hall with no word from Will the more Horace was able to convince himself that something was wrong.  
"I'm sure he's fine," Maddie spoke calmly from her seat at the table. She refused to pace, she was a Ranger and she faith in Will's abilities. They were fine, all three of them, she knew that. But her father's pacing was making her nervous. "Angie must have just traveled through the night, she was farther away they we expected so it took longer to find her."  
"You don't know that," Horace turned in his pacing, starting down the length of the table again, his head shaking miserably.  
"And you don't know that something's wrong," Maddie kept her tone civil. He was just worried. She could never fault him for that.  
Horace shook his head quickly, "It's the same as it was when her parents went off."  
"Her parents where full-fledged Rangers," Maddie brushed her hair back watching her father. "They knew what they were doing when they accepted that mission."  
"I felt wrong about that. I told Will and Gilan to reconsider. They were both too young, too inexperienced to go alone," Horace twisted his hands, watching them intently. "I have a similar feeling now."  
"Will is a Senior Ranger, one of the most revered of all the Corps. You know what he's capable of, and he has never let you down," Maddie watched her father turn at the end of the table, his shoulders slumped with guilt. "All three of them are fine and will be back soon," Maddie consoled her father. "Now please stop that pacing."  
"I'm not pacing," Horace stopped looking at his daughter. His shoulders squared as he straightened, "I'm a King. I have not paced since your mother was a headstrong Princess."  
"You two bicker too much," One of the jarls, a rough older seawolf called Frey, commented from where he sat on the other side of the Big Hall. "I don't like it, reminds me of my parents."  
"He's just agitated," Maddie responded turning from her father. "He's more father than knight at the moment." She gave Horace a small joking smile. Horace missed the humor in her statement.  
"That's not fair," Horace began to protest. "I care for the girl, just like the rest of the Ranger Corps and you can't tell me you're not worried about her."  
He considered himself a member of the Rangers, a very special member but that was beside the point. He cared about Angie just as much as the rest of them. He had been a frequent visitor to Redmont under the guise of inspecting the Battle School. So maybe he was acting more a father than a hardened knight, but he felt like it was his own daughter that was missing. He was allowed to worry.  
"I never said I wasn't," Maddie defended herself quietly. She was worried but at least she had managed to control herself.  
"Something special to you Rangers, is she?" Colby, another of the jarls asked.  
"Of course she is," Kelby, the youngest of the senior jarls commented. "Haven't you ever been to Araluen? Those Rangers are a close knit group."  
"Bit odd if you ask me," a few of the jarls nodded to Frey's comment. They thought it was odd that the Rangers were so close.  
"It's no different than the crew of a wolfship," a jarl named Hal responded instantly. Many of the jarls nodded their agreement to the statement. "Trials bring people closer together, that's why we all go through Brother Band training."  
"She's the child of Rangers," Horace answered the original question. "Both of her parents were killed on a mission in Pitca when she was a baby."  
"All of the Corps thinks of Angie as their own child," Maddie finished.  
All of the Rangers had made visits to Redmont to see the child. They all had excuses for the unexpected visits in Redmont Fief, some even managed to have viable reasons to go check on Angie. Like Will they had all kept their distance, but they still came to check on their daughter. Maddie had even seen several of the senior Rangers at the Gathering every year holding competitions to see who would become Angie's mentor. To her knowledge Will had always won, but he would have gotten to Angie first since she was in his Fief.  
But Maddie knew Will felt just as guilty about the deaths of Mark and Grace as Horace did. It had been Will who convinced Gilan to give the young couple the mission. Horace had backed Will even though he thought the assignment should have gone to someone else. They had both escorted the young couple to the border, giving them helpful advice and took Angie from their care just before they left Norgate Fief.  
When word returned of the failed mission, the deaths of the Rangers… Maddie had never seen the Rangers as solemn as they had been that day.  
It was close to a month after that before a decision was reached over Angie's future. Horace had instantly said he would take the child and raise her has his ward. Every Ranger had offered to care for her. There had been talk of moving her from Fief to Fief as Ranger's went on missions, or as their duties took too much of their time. Gilan had said he had found a family that would take her in and raise her near Castle Araluen.  
Will had insisted that Angie go to Redmont. He had been watching her with the assistance of his friend Jenny in Wensley since her parent's deaths. He had talked to the Baron of Redmont and learned that the Ward established under Arald after the first War with Morgarath was still running. A majority of the Rangers had said that was a good idea, some disagreed. But Gilan made the final decision, and Will talked him into sending Angie to Redmont.  
After the decision had been made, the Rangers had each been granted a day with her. Angie had been to all fifty Fiefs to see her family before her life in the Ward. Some had tried to keep her, saying they had quiet Fiefs and she could stay there. There had almost been a riot between the Rangers. It had been a command from Queen Cassandra that had finally ended the arguing, but some still disapproved of the official order.  
"They would never forgive us if we returned without her," Maddie shook her head, dislodging the thought. Will was going to find her and they would all sail home together.  
The jarls nodded their understanding. Horace resumed his pacing. Some of the jarls set out again, going to talk in to people in town, send questions to other villages throughout Skandia. A few hours later the jarls started to stagger back in.  
Time moved by slowly. The jarls returning from their searches of the countryside joined the waiting in the Big Hall. No one had any news.  
The last of the jarls to arrive was Hal, he was joined Maddie at her table where she was still watching Horace pace. "I took _Heron_ as far up the river as I could. I didn't see anything," he reported as a tankard was brought to him.  
"She must have gone up the mountain," Horace muttered looking briefly at the Skandian jarl. "Did anyone go that way?"  
"Will and Johnny went up the mountain," Maddie answered as if that was all that was necessary. It should have been, Will was an expert tracker, he would find her.  
"It's a big mountain," Horace protested. "Were there any other groups that went that way?"  
"I've sent Stig out," Hal responded. "He'll round up a few crews and search the mountain. We've still got plenty of daylight."  
Horace shook his head, his pacing intensifying. "I knew this was a mistake, she wasn't ready for this."  
"Yes she was," Maddie smiled at her father, even thought he did not turn to see it. "We don't know what led Angie from her room, and we don't know that something has happened."  
"Something happened," Horace snapped, turning to stare at his daughter. "Angie is gone, we've no idea where she went or why. Will and Johnny are still gone and no one has seen anything. This is a prime example of something happening."  
Maddie nodded her agreement to her father's statement. He had been on enough campaigns to have a sense for when things were falling apart. But she knew Horace had no patience, even less when he was worried about the safety of his friends. But they were in Skandia peacefully, nothing had happened to Angie, Maddie could feel it. Soon Will would be back with the apprentices.  
"Please sit down," she spoke quietly, in the tone Cassandra used with Maddie when she was upset but could not let it show. Horace stopped his pacing at looked at the woman Ranger. Maddie pat the spot on the bench beside her, locking eyes with Horace.  
"Don't ask me to do that," Horace shook his head. "Don't ask me to sit and wait, I can't do it," he looked pleadingly at his daughter.  
He could not just sit there, it was already too much that he was in Hallasholm while Angie was missing. It was too much for him to bear, he could not just sit waiting. All his life he had charged ahead when Will and Halt told him, and in the time before his valiant charges he could still do something. This waiting was killing him. He could never understand how Will did it, but he was not Will and he could not sit quietly.  
Maddie could not force him to sit, she tried a few more times as the day wore on but he ignored her. Some of the jarls left, going out to search the coast on their wolfships, a few went out to search coast on foot. Hal remained, watching the knight beside Maddie.  
As dusk was beginning to settle, jarls started returning, all bearing the same dismal news: they had found nothing. Horace had increased the speed of his pacing, his hands turning red from all the rubbing he had done. No word from Will, the Skandians had found nothing, and it was getting dark.  
"I'm going back out," Horace turned the door. He was done waiting, something had happened. Will would be waiting for him, expecting him to arrive at any moment. Horace had not let Will down in a very long time, and he was not going allow it to happen now.  
"Horace," the doors flew open before Will, "Maddie, we have a situation."  
"I told you something happened," Horace rushed across the room to Will, ready to help him. With the way Will had rushed in Horace was expecting the worst. "What is it? Where are Angie and Johnny?"  
"They're fine, but we have bigger problems. There are Genovesans in Hallasholm," Will quickly told them what Angie had told him about the meeting on the road. The jarls gathered around to listen, their expressions dark.  
"We knew there was talk of rebellion, but what pure-blooded Skandian would call upon outsides for a fight?"  
"It's unnatural. Skipping out on the chance of a fight."  
"It's worse than that," Will interrupting, knowing how much the Skandians loved fighting. "The Genovesans are trained assassins, and we know their target."  
"We aren't afraid of assassins," the jarls jeered at the Ranger's concern. "We'll brain them before they have a chance to do anything to any of us."  
"You won't have a chance to brain anything," Will was kept his face straight making eye contact with the assembled jarls. "They use poisons and crossbows, they'll kill you before you even know where they are."


	19. Chapter 18

The city of Hallasholm on lockdown was not at all what Angie had expected a lockdown to be. Instead of everyone hiding inside their well fortified homes, the mountainous men were roaming the city with battle axes whirling. They upturned everything, shattered crates, busted down doors and sent people into their storages to go through their liberated treasures. Angie was overseeing the inspection of the storage units. Unfortunately Will sent her there with Johnny.  
"What do they expect us to do, I don't even know what we're looking for," Johnny complained from inside one of the storages.  
"Assassins," Angie called from out in the walkway, watching three rooms while the seawolves searched through their belongings. "Short with ugly purple clothes, wide brimmed hats and crossbows, they have funny accents."  
"Everyone here has a funny accent," Johnny muttered darkly kicking a rolled up tapestry on the floor.  
"Hey, that is a very important rug," the burly Skandian, Olin, shouted from behind a row of spears. "I don't appreciate you kicking it."  
Johnny rolled his eyes moving away from the dust collecting tapestry, "Why are we going through all of this? Do they really think these assassins are going to be hiding in all this junk?"  
A chorus of "Hey!" rose around them from the Skandians sifting through the accumulated treasures. Angie grinned, the Skandians did not like Johnny either and they thought she walked on water. "Watch your mouth boy, these are treasures," Olin shouted loud enough for all of Hallasholm to hear.  
"We don't know where the Geneovasens are going to be," Angie's mouth twisted at the strange name, she was sure she was still saying it wrong, but everyone more or less understood what she meant. "Will says we have to look everywhere for them."  
"Then let's go check the docks," Johnny stuck his head out of the storage room. "You said they were on a ship, wouldn't they hide there until they could kill the jarl?"  
"That is an excellent thought," Angie raised her brow in sarcasm. "And if we had actually been here when the ship came in we could do that. And if we knew which ship it was, that would be a great plan. But we don't and it's after dark, we have no idea where there are now, so we're checking everywhere."  
Johnny narrowed his eyes at Angie, she was leaning against a wall, spinning her necklace around her finger as she watched a Skandian seawolf across the walkway. She stood beneath a torch, the shadows flickered around her distorting her figure under the mottled cloak. It was not fair that she was ranked above him, she had run away.  
"This is pointless," Johnny retreated back into the room. It was so crowded there was no way a person could be in there, no matter how small they might have been. "Why would they be here?"  
Angie did not immediately respond, she was doubtlessly thinking of a viable reason for the hired assassins to be hiding in the stashed treasures of the seawolves. Johnny sighed looking at the stash around him, there were more weapons tossed in haphazardly then there was in the entire armory of Redmont. What he would give to have some of those weapons in his possession.  
"Why do you have so many weapons?" Johnny pulled a sword out of a barrel filled with them. It was a full meter long and sat more comfortably in his hand than the weapon assigned to him from the Battle School.  
"I inherited them from my father, he liberated them from a few places," the Olin's head appeared from behind a wall of rolled tapestries, he had donned a war helmet from the far off nation of Nihon-Ja.  
"Where did this one come from?" he held the blade up over his head for the seawolf to see.  
"Couldn't say, I don't use swords, I prefer the battle axe." Olin gave a toothy grin, "Much better for braining."  
Johnny lowered the sword, staring at in intently. This sword was perfect for him, it fit his hand. He was meant to wield that sword. "Can I have it?" he asked, wading over to the Skandian.  
"Well," the Olin was bent over a barrel of jewels, he scratched his temple. "I suppose so, I have plenty of them."  
Johnny dug through the weapons until he found the scabbard that fit the sword and tied it to his belt. Feeling satisfied he went to join Angie in the walk.  
"How much longer?" he asked looking around at the four opened units.  
"I think these are the last four, then we're meeting up with Maddie at the green."  
"What about Will and Horace?"  
"They're with Hal in the Oberjarl's Palace. They're planning something," Angie slipped her necklace over her head as one of the Skandians emerged from his storage.  
"There is nothing in my storage, small Ranger," he announced. "Now, I'm going to patrol the docks," he hefted his battle axe on his shoulder.  
"Have fun," Angie called after him. "Brain them once for me!"  
"Gorlog's beard, girl! I'll brain them twice for you if I catch them," he laughed heartily leaving them.  
"Gorlog?" Johnny watched the man leave. "What is a Gorlog and why is the beard so important?"  
"I don't know," Angie shrugged, "but Will likes to include his toe nails."  
"His toe nails?" Johnny cast Angie a suspicious look, feeling like he was on the butt end of a joke once again. "I will never understand Rangers," he shook his head quickly.  
"Not asking you too, you're just a whack and basher," Angie held a straight face, it was impossible to tell if she was joking or not. "Come on, let's see if they've finished yet," Angie pushed herself away from the wall. She vanished into one of the rooms, reemerging seconds later with a laughing Skandian.  
"I've never seen a stunt like that," the Skandian barked, his hand resting heavily on Angie's shoulder. "I thought you were flying!"  
"I was flying," Angie's face was pale, the Skandian was holding her upright as she walked.  
"That you were, and without a sound. You Rangers are terrifying," he clapped her roughly on the shoulder as he turned to leave. "Flying through the air without a sound," he shook his head, "I've never heard of such a thing."  
"Glad I could demonstrate," she tried to smile but Angie's stomach was still in her throat from her brief flight in the store room. "Now go brain some assassins for me!"  
"That I will girl, that I will," he called back cheerily with a wave of his massive hand.  
Angie leaned back against the wall taking a deep cleansing breath. Lesson learned, she thought trying to settle her queasy stomach, always watch where your feet are. She gulped and looked at Johnny, who seemed torn between amusement and concern. He had not see her in the store room, she was thankful for that. The last thing she needed was him teasing her over that.  
"It's nothing," she managed to snap, straightening. "Now go see what those other two are doing. We have to meet Maddie."  
All four of the rooms were clear. Angie took the torch from the bracket on the wall and led the way to the green. They had been in Hallasholm for nearly a week, and Angie felt she had a pretty good idea of how to get around. But in the dark, all her markers were shadowed and she was lost instantly.  
"You're lost," Johnny commented looking around them. He had never been wherever Angie had led them. It looked like a shipyard, which easily could have been what it actually was.  
"Maybe a little," Angie admitted. She had never claimed to be all knowing, and she had known Johnny long enough for him to know that she was not. "Everything looks different in the dark."  
"Great," Johnny snatched the torch from Angie's hand. "I did not sign up for this."  
"Neither did I," Angie snapped crossing her arms glaring at Johnny. "I don't know why they keep pairing us up like this. They know we hate each other!"  
The two young apprentices glared at one another in the torchlight. They both knew they had other places to be, Maddie was waiting for them and they would play some role in the plan Will was making with Horace and Hal. But they were too stubborn to allow the other to lead, and too stubborn to admit that.  
"Maybe they're trying to chase you away," Johnny finally responded after a few silent minutes of staring. "They've decided you're not worthy since you ran away."  
"It's a good thing I ran off, I found out about the assassins trying to kill Hal," Angie's voice rose to a shout.  
"It was just lucky," Johnny had no real response to that. She overheard the most exciting point of this trip. But she had still run away. "If you hadn't been such a baby you wouldn't have been out on the mountain."  
"It's a good thing I was on the mountain," she said shrilly. "So I guess we have you to thank for that." Johnny's face slackened, his next comment dying in his mouth.  
Thank him for her running away? Was she really going to pin everything on him? That was hardly fair, he had done nothing. Well there had been the little argument on the green, but that was hardly a reason to run off.  
"If you had just left me alone I wouldn't have given up. I would have been here and no one would know about the Geneovasen Assassins trying to kill Hal so he won't be the Oberjarl. So it's your fault were out here right now, it's your fault we're lost, and it's your—look out," Angie lunged toward him suddenly, her arms outstretched and her eyes wide with panic.  
She hit him around the waist, launching him through the air. As he fell, Johnny could see what Angie was saving him from. Several wooden beams had been knocked loose and were falling where Johnny had been standing; and where Angie was laying after her tackle.  
He hit the ground, the wind knocked from his lungs, the same time the beams rolled and bounced over the form of the apprentice Ranger. He could hear her scream as the wood went over her body, the sound set his teeth on edge.  
Johnny scrambled around on the ground, trying to find purchase to propel himself to where Angie lay half buried beneath the lumber. What had caused the wood to roll?  
Not important, he snapped. He had to get her out of there, he had to make sure. She could not be dead, he hated the thought. Not Angie, she would not just die. They had been together forever, he could not imagine his life with her there to taunt.  
It was more than that. He might have hated her, teased and made fun of her. He could even accept that he was a horrible person for bullying her their entire childhood. But she was like an annoying sister, she was a large part of his life. "Don't be dead," he whispered repeatedly lifting the logs and tossing them aside.  
She was stretched out on her stomach beneath the lumber, one arm covering her head. The other lay at a grotesque angle. One of her legs was bent like it had three knees instead of one and wrapped around the other. Her breathing was short, ragged gasps. She was in pain just trying to breathe. But she was breathing, she was alive.  
She moaned when he lifted the last of the beams from her legs, "Johnny," she gasped, her blue eyes dimming as she searched for him in the shadows," are—are you," she moaned softly trying to curl in on herself.  
"I'm fine," he gasped, his own breath quickening. "What happened?"  
"The Geneovesans," she gasped, her unbroken arm reaching out for Johnny. "They heard us. They're here. You have to go find Will."  
"I'm not leaving you," he held her hand tightly, brushing her hair back from her face. "If they're here, they'll kill you when I leave."  
"I'm already dead," Angie gasped, a smile forced on her pale face. "They'll kill you too. Go—go get," she stopped, her face twisting in pain.  
"I'm coming back for you," Johnny promised releasing her hand. "You're not going to die; I'm coming back for you."  
Johnny ran from the shipyard.


	20. Chapter 19

With a deep _Thrum_ the arrow whistled away from Will's long bow on the palisade guarding the Oberjarl's Palace. Will stared out into the flickering torch light of the main city. He had seen one of them, he was sure of it. He was also certain he had hit the Genovesan that was creeping around out there.  
"This is by far the worst situation we've ever faced," Horace muttered a few meters away, his sword held loosely at his side.  
"We've faced armies before," Will commented his eyes scanning the streets. "We took a castle with a single wolfship crew, this is nothing."  
"This is exactly like in Nihon-Ja, except we are at even more of a disadvantage," Horace moved carefully across the wooden floorboards toward Will.  
"Really? What makes you say that?"  
"No reinforcements," Horace whispered coming to stand beside his long time comrade. "Did you hit him?"  
"Yes," he was not going to give himself any room for doubt. Will had hit that man trying to sneak up to the palace. "Are the archers assembled yet?"  
"They should be coming into position," Horace looked behind them to the yard, the archers were gathering into rows. He nodded even though he knew no one would see him. "They're forming up."  
"Good, I think it's about to begin."  
It was nearing midnight. Maddie would be arriving at any minute with Johnny and Angie and they were meaning to flush the purple clad assassins from hiding. The senior jarls had ordered all of the women and children to their homes, all the men were stationed to defend the gates of the palace, and every building had been inspected and closed up. The archers were going to fire volley after volley into the streets with the Skandians upending everything that could provide shelter.  
There was no way these Genovesans were going to complete their contract. Not if Will had any say in the matter. And fortunately, Will had a lot of say in this matter. He glanced over his shoulder at the archers, satisfied at how quickly they were organizing themselves. As soon as the others arrived they would begin the purge of the city.  
"Where are they?" Horace asked staring out over the wall.  
"I'm sure they're coming," He knew they would be there soon. Maddie would not allow anything to happen to the children, and they had been given a very simple task. Nothing should have bothered them.  
"We need to start," Horace whispered a minute later when there was still no sign of Maddie and the apprentices. "If we wait too long their nerves with get the better of them," the old friends looked over the wall at the seawolves mulling about.  
The Skandians would not get nervous, they would just grow bored. Will nodded, looking up with his eyes to scan the street. Where were they?  
"Okay, give the order." Will slipped his longbow over his shoulder, pulling his cowl low over his face. "I'll be back soon."  
"I'm not going to have them fire while you're out there," Horace grabbed Will's arm before he could start down the steps to the yard. "What are you doing?" he searched his friends face for some indication.  
"I'm going to find them. They should be here," Will slipped his arm from Horace's grasp and started down the stair. "Give the order Horace, we'll be fine."  
Will moved past the Skandians at the gate, offering gruff encouragement as he passed and telling them the party was about to begin. The Skandians grinned sending their weapons spinning around them in anticipation. Will moved on, lurking in the shadows toward the green where Maddie was supposed to rendezvous with Angie and Johnny.  
There was a single figure in the green, her mottled cloak mostly hiding her from sight. Will sighed in relief; they just had not arrived yet. He raced across the green to his former apprentice and knelt at her side.  
"They should be here already," Maddie whispered looking toward the storage area by the docks. "I saw the last of the seawolves come out already," she cast Will a worried glance.  
"Did the seawolves report anything?" Will asked, his eyes scanning the area around them for threats.  
"They said it was all clear," Maddie adjusted slightly. "Do you think the Genovesans were down there?"  
"It's possible," Will hoped that was not true. He would have preferred the apprentices to be lost somewhere, at least then they would be safe. "But you would have heard something."  
"I heard your bow, did you get him?" Will nodded. "So there are only three now."  
"That's three too many," Will said darkly. "And I'm not sure how much damage I caused the one I hit. It was a close thing."  
"Are we going to look for them?"  
Again Will nodded, "Horace is giving the order, the sweep is about to begin." The Rangers rose to their feet and started down the street.  
The storages were empty, the torches extinguished. One of them was missing, the bracket still warm from where the fire had burned. Maddie lit another of the torches holding it aloft for them to see by.  
"They followed the Skandians out," Will knelt by a wide circle of steps. Where Angie had stood while the Skandians where in their storages. He saw the signs of where Johnny had stood next to her, he followed her tracks in to and out of the four units on the end and then down the walk after the Skandians. "Come on, this way."  
The tracks wove through the streets in a random pattern, moving farther and farther from the green. Will followed them with a frown creasing his features. They had no reason to come this way.  
"Look," Maddie stopped up ahead of Will while he checked to make sure they were going the right way. "They were followed," she motioned for Will to come and see what she had found.  
Three sets of prints come in behind the apprentices. Had Angie suspected they were being followed and set off in search of a site for a confrontation? Or had she seen them and tailed after them to gather information? Both were likely options, exactly the kind of thing a Ranger would do.  
"Where does this road go?" Maddie asked looking down the dark road they were following.  
"If memory serves, it goes to the shipyard," Will answered straightening. "Let's go, I have a bad feeling about all of this."  
They ran down the road. They were just passing out of the residential houses when they saw Johnny running down the road.  
Will's throat constricted so quickly he could not breathe. Johnny was alone, he and Angie had come this way together and now Johnny was in a full retreat. Johnny came to a staggering halt between them, doubled over gasping for breath.  
"The Genovesans are in the shipyard," he gasped looking up at Will. "I don't know how many, but they were trying to take us out. They know that we know."  
"Where's Angie?" Will felt his stomach drop as Johnny shook his head, his eyes falling to the ground.  
"She saved me," he ran his hand across his cheeks. "She pushed me out of the way."  
"Where is she?" Will took the boy by the shoulders, hauling him upright. "What happened to her? Was she shot, is she hurt?"  
Johnny looked away, he could not meet the Ranger's eyes, "she saved me," he repeated meekly. "Why would she do that, I didn't deserve to be saved. I should have," he could not finish the thought. "She wants you Will. I made her a promise, we have to save her."  
Will dropped the boy, running as fast as he could down the road. Something was wrong, the Genovesans were out there, they were trying to kill Angie. Who was he trying to fool, they probably had killed her. He was going to run into a trap.  
But he had no choice, Angie was out there, she needed him. He was her mentor, her guardian, the closest thing to a father the child would ever know. He would rush to her aide no matter the costs.  
"I'm coming," he whispered leaving Maddie and Johnny behind in a flickering dome of light.  
He ran into the ship yard, looking for Angie or the Genovesans. All he could see where the half constructed ships and piles of lumber. Where would they have set her? Where had the trap been laid?  
Years of training took over as Will entered the yard. He looked for hiding places, advantage points, escape routes, likely ambush sites, and the signs of everyone who had come through there. Steadying his breathing Will entered the shipyard, his every move measured and every step checked.  
Three people had come in ahead of or behind Angie and Johnny, the tracks on the road was all the proof Will needed. He had not seen anyone leave, the only recent tracks heading out belonged to Johnny. Will knew that would not mean anything, the Genovesans could have left via another route.  
Three potential targets. Three potential threats. One disabled Ranger apprentice. And one Ranger. The odds were not looking good. But they never where. Will could manage this, he had been in tight spots before.  
He pulled his bow from his shoulder and nocked an arrow, sliding against a pile of lumber as he moved deeper into the yard. He stopped at the end of the pile, taking a deep breath ready to rush to the next cover. He would assume they knew where he was.  
_Always expect the worst, you'll never be surprised._  
What he would give for some of Halt's advice in this situation. Halt would already have a plan, Will had no idea what to do. He still had no idea where Angie was in this place and what her condition was.  
He moved deeper in the yard, casting wary glances around every corner, running through the shadows waiting for the hum of a crossbow bolt flying for his chest. He was close to the center of the yard and still nothing. What where they waiting for?  
He heard it before he saw anything. The low moan of a person in pain, no. They were in anguish. Will's stomach dropped again remembering what Johnny had said, "She pushed me out of the way." Had she been shot, was she being tormented?  
Will pulled his saxe knife and held it up so her could see around the corner. The dim light of a dying torch provided just enough light for him to see the scattered wooden beams used for the skeleton of the wolfships. He could hide amid the strewn lumber while he determined what had happened to Angie. He slipped the knife back in the scabbard, returned the nocked arrow to his quiver and rushed to one of the logs.  
He slid in on his knees, stretching out against the sanded wood with his bow tucked into his cloak. He had expected to be shot during his rush. He was waiting for the thud of the arrows hitting the wood. Slowly Will counted to twenty, nothing. He lifted his head looking around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  
Moving through the lumber was easier than he had expected. In the center of the mess he found Angie. She was stretched out on her stomach, one of her legs was broken in two places along with one of her arms. She was gasping for breath, straining against her own body, broken ribs. Will felt tears welling in his eyes, he would have preferred her to be shot with the poisonous crossbow bolts.  
"Hello, signor."


	21. Chapter 20

"I'm going to get Horace," Maddie helped Johnny to his feet, holding his head up so he had to look at her. "Go after Will, if the Genovesans are still there, he'll need help." Johnny gasped looking her in the eyes.  
"If we have any hope of saving her, we'll need help," she explained slowly.  
She could see he was exhausted, he had probably engaged in some kind of fight in the ship yard and then ran for help. Not only that but he had seen what had happened to Angie first hand. That would have been enough to stop Maddie for a few hours as an apprentice. But there was no time for him to rest.  
"She needs a healer," he sobbed. "She's going to die."  
"You promised you'd go back," Maddie had to snap the boy out of it. She needed him to be a battle school apprentice. "You promised her you'd go back." Johnny nodded, "then go back and help. I'm going for Horace and some help."  
"What am I supposed to do?" he asked as Maddie turned to leave. He had never faced anything like this before. He had never even been in actual combat. He was just a first year apprentice.  
"Do what you're trained to do," she forced an encouraging smile at the apprentice knight, patting him on the cheek like her mother use to for her. "It'll all work out."  
Johnny watched the Ranger run for Hallasholm, then looked down at himself. What he was trained to do? What was he trained to do?  
They had gone over so much in Hallasholm, he had learned a lot of skills in the past week. No one had told him what he was supposed to do with them. He had no idea where to even begin. He had a weapon. His hand fell to the hilt of the sword he had received that night from Olin.  
He had a weapon, he could fight. He was an apprentice knight from Araluen, he was chosen from among hundreds to be trained by the King himself. He had trained with the mysterious Rangers, he could do anything.  
Clenching his fist around the hilt of his sword and setting his jaw, Johnny looked back to the shipyard. Will and Angie were out there and they needed his help. He started running, the exhaustion fading in his resolve.  
Reentering the shipyard was harder than running back to it. He stopped at a large pile of wooden planks looking around. He was not trained for this part; he was not trained to go sneaking around. He had watched Angie practice it, the way she watched for shadows and moved with them.  
"Shadows," he muttered looking around in the darkness, "got that covered." What else did she do? Had he heard Will or Maddie say anything else? Was there even anything else to moving like the Rangers?  
He sighed looking around the planks. He had to do something. Sitting on the edge of the shipyard was not helping anyone. He appeared to be alone; would they expect him to return? Would Will be expecting him so soon? Would Will mistake him for a Genovesan and shoot him with that massive long bow of his?  
He had to keep going. He had made a promise to Angie, he had made the same promise to Maddie, Will would need help fighting three highly trained assassins. He had to go back for Angie.  
"Just go," he ordered himself.  
Moving with the shadows was a lot harder than Angie had made it look. He felt completely exposed as he tip-toed the length of the various piles of timber. With every step Johnny expected some loud noise that would give away his position, or a projectile to come flying at his head.  
He collapsed against another pile, one of roughly hewn poles, breathing heavily. It was stressful, why would anyone volunteer to do something like that? He drew his sword, feeling comfort from having the solid steel in his hands.  
So far so good, he sighed to himself looking around for the next place to hide. How much farther until he reached Angie? He remembered where they had been but it would take a long time for him to reach it, he realized looking over the top of the timber pile.  
He was about to duck down when he saw one of the Genovesans. It was like Angie had described, purple suits with a cap and a wide brimmed hat. He had a crossbow strapped to his back as he climbed up onto a pile of logs. Johnny held his breath watching, they did not know he was there.  
Slowly Johnny sunk back down, slipping his sword back in the scabbard. He could sneak up on the assassin. He felt he was skilled enough to move silently across a clear yard and over take someone not expecting an attack. His only problem would be climbing up to the Genovesan and overpowering him. Johnny drummed his fingers on his leg thinking.  
_Will needs my help._  
_But if I get hurt, it'll just be another problem for him._  
_But if I take this one out, that will be less of a problem._  
_Unless that one is meeting another one_, Johnny shook his head.  
_I can take out one of them_, he told himself sternly. _Will needs my help_.  
He nodded several times, coming to a crouch. If he went slowly he could get there unheard. He took a deep breath, taking a firm grip on his sword and started for the Genovesan. At one point he heard the Genovesan shift, Johnny froze instantly, remembering the lecture Will and Maddie had both given multiple times over the past week.  
When he started to climb up behind the Genovesan Johnny was certain he would get caught. He slipped twice, his sword banging against the wood, and once he nearly shouted after getting a splinter under his fingernail. When he reached the top, Johnny peered over cautiously half expecting the Genovesan to be standing there waiting to slit his throat.  
The man was stretched out on his stomach, his crossbow loaded and trained down on people in a walkway through the supplies for the wolfships. Good, Johnny thought, he's distracted. Carefully Johnny climbed up behind the Genovesan and slipped his sword out once more.  
_You can do this_; he gulped tightening his hold on the sword. The Genovesan never saw it coming, and thankfully made no sound. Johnny's heart was racing as he cleaned his sword off on the dead man's cloak.  
One less problem, a voice in the back of Johnny's mind commented with a strange calm. Johnny gulped stretching out on the logs to see what the man had been watching. Down below he could see one of the Genovesans with his crossbow aimed at two figures on the ground. He looked up for the other Genovesan.  
Across the way Johnny could see the tip of the purple hat, there was a glint from the tip of a crossbow bolt reflecting from the sputtering torch Johnny had dropped when Angie had pushed him out of harm's way. How was he supposed to get over there? Could he even pull of his sneak attack twice?  
No, it had been dumb luck that he had managed a sneak attack once. Johnny looked over to the dead man, an idea forming in his mind. It was probably a horrible idea, and it would most likely get him shot by Will's long bow.  
Slowly Johnny reached out for the wide brimmed purple hat and slipped it on his own head. It sort of fit, he pushed it back to sit on the back of his head so he could see and started to unclasp the odd cloak from the man's shoulders. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered fastening the cloak over his own.  
The crossbow felt odd in his hands. He was not trained to use it and he was not at all sure if he even could. He grunted pulling the weapon over to himself and started down the back side of the log pile.  
Somewhere in the back of his mind he recalled a lesson Will had told Angie. People will see what they expect to see; hopefully the hat, cloak, and crossbow would be enough. He started around to sneak up on and hopefully shoot one of the Genovesans.  
"We have been looking for you," the Genovesan standing before Will was saying. "We have not forgotten the shame your kind brought us in Hibernia."  
"I was doing my duty," Will returned. "They were trying to kill us."  
"Better that they had, we would not have had to agree to work for these filthy seawolves."  
Had to agree? Johnny slipped behind the frame of a wolfship, listening. That made no sense; Will had said the Genovesans were assassins for hire. They could have turned the Skandians down.  
"And now, signor, you will die, like the child at your feet."  
If Johnny had not been watching he would not have believed what happened. The Genovesans fired, he heard the sound of both arrows whizzing through the air toward Will. Will ducked beneath both of them, drawing an arrow from his quiver as he rolled from Angie. His first shot took out the assassin hiding up above.  
The remaining Genovesan lifted a second crossbow and trained it on Will, where he was kneeling on the edge of the area where Johnny had cleared to wood from Angie. Will had another arrow nocked and drawn aiming at the Genovesan's chest.  
"Surrender," Will shouted. "My arrow will reach you before you can even fire."  
"I have a touchy trigger," the man smiled at Will. "My aim is always true."  
"As is mine," Will allowed a slight smile to touch his lips. "And I have back up."  
"Oh," the Genovesan sighed, "no, the child is broken." He looked with feigned sadness to where Angie lay on the ground. "I however do have assistance. One of my comrades is behind us."  
Johnny felt his body tense. They knew he was hiding behind the frame, Will was going to shoot him. The Genovesan was going to shoot him too, once he realized that he was an apprentice not his partner. His mind flew into action, thinking about how his life was so close to an end he could already feel the never ending cold creeping up his spine.  
"And he will take care of the child while I deal with you."  
Johnny rose to his feet, pulling the wide brimmed hat low to hide his face from view. What was he doing? He was walking to his death; that was all he was doing. He held his sword pressed to his side, the crossbow holding the cloak open. Johnny knew his ruse was about to fall apart, the tip of his sword reached past the hem of the short man's cloak, the blue tunic he wore would never pass for purple, his own cloak caused the purple cloak to hang awkwardly on his shoulders.  
At least you killed one of them, his mind had an eerie calm tone.  
_I'm about to die_, he found it easy to accept. He had killed one of the Genovesans, his death might even allow Will to finish off the last one, unless Will wasted his next shot on Johnny. He raised his head, trying to catch Will's eye, trying to signal that he was not a Genovesan assassin.  
Johnny stopped standing just behind the Genovesan, releasing his sword as he raised the crossbow. His heart was hammering in his chest, he looked between Will and Angie; was she even still breathing? He looked to Will again, his mind calling out for Will to realize who he was. Their eyes locked and he saw the recognition flash through the Ranger's deep brown eyes.  
"It seems we've all miscalculated," Will turned back to the assassin.  
Johnny shot the crossbow into the Genovesan's back straight through his heart, "She's not dead is she?" he dropped the crossbow and pealed the hat off his head. "Tell me she's not dead."


	22. Chapter 21

He would have liked Maddie or Will to be in charge of the sweep. They had a mind for this, Horace was more of a combatant.  
Lead an army? No problem.  
Fight man to man? He could go all day.  
Train warriors? He had already taught some of the best.  
Strategic sweeps of a foreign city? No, that was not something for Horace Altman, let the Rangers do that.  
Not only did he not want to do that, the Skandians were growing bored with it as well. They were being deprived of braining people, so they cared less and less about the proceedings. Horace was about to let them leave, they had caught one of the assassins, Will had put an arrow through his thigh and pinned him to a wall. With the threat kind of under control, and the pleasure of braining the purple clad men denied, no one had much enthusiasm for the hunt.  
He was about to make his announcement that they could all go when Maddie came running in. She veered straight to him, panic rising in her eyes.  
"Angie's been hurt," she spoke as the Skandians gathered around them. "Down in the shipyard, some of the Genovesans ambushed her and Johnny."  
"Is the boy hurt?"  
"No, Angie saved him, but a pile of the beams for the hulls fell on her," pain rippled on the faces of the seawolves. They knew how heavy the beams where, having taken turns in the shipyard as teenagers.  
"Let's go boys," Nils Ropehander bellowed the time honored Skandian battle cry, brandishing his battle axe over his head. Horace fell in behind the excited Skandian seawolf as he led the charge for the shipyard.  
In true Skandian fashion the charge did not stop to make sure the area was safe before entering and they had no battle plan as they searched. Horace and Maddie cringed hearing the seawolves hack through massive wooden beams, watching the piles scattered as the Sakandians searched for their enemy, and allies.  
Horace and Maddie found them, moments before the seawolves stormed through the area. Johnny was wearing one of the dull purple capes of the Genovesans over his cloak, kneeling in a circle of scattered timber. Will was at his side, his medical kit spread around them.  
The Skandian's charge and ferocious battle cries died down as they saw the dead assassins. Horace and Maddie slowly approached Will and Johnny, followed by the quickly subdued warriors. Everyone feared what they would find.  
"We need a healer," Will had fashioned a splint to Angie's left leg and her right arm. "Quickly," he snapped not turning from the still figure.  
"Will," Horace reached out, ready to console his friend. Will shrugged his hand away.  
"She's not dead Horace," Will's voice cracked. "She's not dead."  
"Uncle Will," Maddie knelt beside the older Ranger. "Please, don't do this."  
"She's not dead," Johnny whispered on Will's other side, his head shaking. "She's not dead."  
Nils joined them, his battle axe left behind with one of the others. He looked down sadly at the girl, a single tear running down his cheek. He liked the girl. She had a fire in her soul that he could respect as a warrior. She was still a child, he shook his head miserably.  
"I'm sorry general," Nils muttered, his massive hand falling on the knight's shoulder.  
"She's not dead," Will repeated.  
They looked down, all wanting to believe what Will was saying, but they knew it was not true. She was pale, too pale to be alive, her eyes were closed and she was not moving. Horace had seen it before, Maddie had seen it before, they had all seen this.  
Angie was dead.  
The sudden moan and shift of the body before them had half of the Skandians screaming about ghosts and several running from the shipyard. Horace felt his heart start again as tears streamed down his face.  
She was alive!

The room in the Oberjarl's Palace was illuminated by a roaring fire, kept burning by a young slave Will pulled from the yard. They placed the unconscious girl on the bed, barely daring to breathe as they held her. Every move of the people carrying her sent ripples of pain across Angie's face, breaking hearts that had only just begun to mend.  
The healer had made everyone leave, including Will. He and Horace paced the hall outside of the room. Maddie sat in a chair she had gotten from another room, watching the door with large grief stricken eyes. They had sent Johnny away with Nils, they all felt the boy needed to be removed and distracted.  
Johnny had fought them, beating Nils frantically as he was taken away from Angie's room. "She saved me, you can't send me away! She saved me," he had shouted at them. All three of them could still hear the boy's frustrated shouting in their minds, "you can't send me away. She saved me!"  
"She'll be fine," Will muttered to himself. She had survived this long, she was a fighter. Angie was a Ranger's apprentice. She was the child of Rangers. She could live through this. He stopped before the door, looking at the barrier between him and the child he had watched grow up. "She'll be fine."  
"Any word?" the jarl Hal appeared at Will's side.  
"No," Will and Horace answered dejectedly, their heads dropping solemnly. Horace stood on Will's other side watching the door.  
"I can't take it," Will resumed his pacing. "There has to be something I can do."  
"She's in the care of the most capable healer in all of Hallasholm," Hal offered watching the Ranger walk his circuit in the hall.  
"I trust him," Will shook his head. "I just feel so useless."  
Hal opened his mouth to comment when the door opened. The healer came out with his head bowed in exhaustion. Maddie came to her feet, upending her chair and stood beside her father as they waited for the news. His body language suggested the worse news, Maddie felt her heart drop to her stomach and sink lower and lower waiting for the healer to speak.  
"I did what I could," the healer's voice was soft and laced with exhaustion. Will started to turn from the man. Maddie felt her father's arm around her shoulders and she turned to him.  
"Ranger," the healer smiled looking up at Will, "she's sleeping."  
"Can I go in?" Will started for the door before the healer could respond.  
"Of course," the healer stood aside, allowing Will to enter the room. He turned his weary eyes to Horace and Maddie after Will was gone. "I had to give her warmweed, it was the only thing that would ease her pain." He seemed unhappy to have to resort to the use of the plant for healing. It was a sentiment that Horace shared.  
"Is that so horrible," Maddie asked looking from her father's grief stricken face to the healer. "If it helps, then she needs it.'  
"Warmweed had many side effects," the healer responded sadly. "Foremost among them is addiction."  
"Addiction?" Maddie looked back to her father.  
Horace looked past the healer into the room. "How much?" he knew Will would not approve of this. During his first trip to Skandia Will had become addicted to warmweed, it had almost killed him. Since then, the rangers had incorporated the plant in their healing balms. Will was reluctant to use it, his fear and hatred of the plant was so great.  
"Only enough to ease the pain," he answered. "But she will want more when she wakes. She has four broken ribs, the warmweed relaxes her muscles making it easier to breathe."  
"Will's not going to like this," Horace sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.  
"She needs it," Maddie protested. "He can't be too angry if it makes the pain lessen."  
Horace shook his head at Maddie's comment. "It's a long story Maddie."  
"Warmweed is highly addictive, Ranger Maddie. Your companions know this," Hal sighed with a shake of his head. "I've seen dozens of good seawolves lose everything once they start the drug. Most never recover from it."  
"How long will she need the warmweed?" If it was short time, they could avoid the addiction. If they could find another way to ease her pain they could avoid the trauma. Cassandra had told Horace about what had happened to Will while he was addicted to warmweed, he could not bear the thought of Angie is such a condition. He knew Will could not endure that.  
The healer shook his head, "at least until her ribs heal. She will have difficulty sleeping until then without it and she will be in immense pain."  
"Oh," Maddie gasped covering her mouth with her hand.  
"He's really not going to like this," Horace shook his head, moving past the healer into the room.  
Will had drug a chair up to the bedside, he was hunched over the bed stroking the girl's dark hair back from her face. Horace could hear him whispering to the girl, but he could not make out the words. He hated to take this moment from Will, he did not want to tell Will that the child was suffering so badly she had been given warmweed.  
"Will," he laid his hand on his friend's shoulder.  
"Not now Horace," Will brushed Angie's hair back. "Whatever it is, it can wait."  
"She's been given warmweed Will," the words caught in his throat.  
Will continued to stroke her hair. He made no response to Horace's words. Horace stood ready to catch Will if he launched after the healer. But Will did not move from the chair.  
"I remember when she was a child," Will spoke in a hoarse voice. "She was in the stables and she fell in one of the stalls with a battle horse. It was fifteen hands tall, and it reared back when she fell in his stall." Will reached out and took her uninjured left hand in his own.  
"He, the stallion, knocked her in the head. She was unconscious in the stall when I found her. I thought she was dead then. She was only six or seven, and that was a Zander's battle horse. She was in the care of Zander's healers for a week, and Gilan sent in some of our healers to look after her."  
"Will," Horace squeezed Will's shoulder.  
"If she could survive that, as a child," Will's hand tightened around Angie's, unable to finish the thought. "How much did he give her?"  
"I don't know," Horace could hear Maddie and Hal come in with the healer.  
"Just enough to make her comfortable," the healer answered in his tired voice. "Four of her ribs broke Ranger, it was the only way to get her to sleep."  
"And if she doesn't wake up?" Will forced the question, preparing himself for the answer he feared.  
"I did what I could Ranger. We've used the warmweed for generations to ease pain."  
"That's not all it's been used for," Will breathed releasing the girl's hand. "Thank you, for helping her."  
Will stood, brushing Horace's hand from his shoulder. He gave a smile to the healer, offering the man his hand. The healer smiled, taking the Ranger's hand and gripping it firmly.  
"I was glad too, I owe you Ranger."  
Will's brow rose in curiosity, "really?"  
The healer nodded, "you freed my father from slavery. He was trained as an archer under you Ranger Will. And because of that I'm here now."  
Will's smile grew, looking at the man. "I did what I could."  
"As have I, Ranger." The healer released Will's hand. "If she wakes, you will need to give her more warmweed. I can come back, if you would prefer me to administer it to her."  
"I'll give it to her," Will looked back at his apprentice.  
The healer nodded, "I'm sorry Ranger. It was all I had that could ease her pain."  
"I understand," Will returned to his chair at Angie's side taking her hand in his own. "If it is what she needs, I'll give it to her."


End file.
